Case 463
by Dryce
Summary: It started with two on a rooftop. And then another... Three bodies in one week. No fog, and the bodies are not from Inaba. Needing a little more help with the case this time around, the Inaba police department & Detective Shirogane specifically, have reached out for help from another detective. Why are these people dieing? Who is killing them? (M for later on)
1. Chapter 1

-Prologue

Noise is what seemed to be always waking her up these days. Slowly she rolled over from her bed and put her feet on the cold hardwood. Her baby was crying again. It seemed that every night she was being woken up by her child's screams. She only wished that she could get a decent night's sleep. Not tonight either.

As she made her way downstairs to the baby's room, she rubbed at her eyes to stay awake. She probably looked awful. Her work load was slipping. She couldn't wait for her little boy to grow up a little. She remembered her friends talk about their experiences raising a kid.

'You won't sleep for a year' they said.

It would have been so much easier if he was still around. She wondered if he would ever come back

As she flipped on the lights to the baby's room, it seemed to screech louder as it kicked and fidgeted. She moved faster to the crib, scooping up the small child

"shhhhhh. Shhhhh. Mommies here. It's ok. It's ok baby…"

The child just continued to cry and shake. She had tried everything to get the child through the night. She had tried feeding it before bed, different methods of sleeping, staying with the child through the night to ensure its safety. She had tried nightlights, stuffed animals, pacifiers…everything. Nothing seemed to work.

She tried again as she sat down in her rocking chair, gently rocking with her baby in her arms. She moved slowly, patiently with her child as she rocked. She needed to be patient. But patience too wears off in a situation under this much stress.

Stress was soon replaced with anger. She just wanted the child to be quiet and go to sleep. So, in desperation, she turned to the one thing she knew would work.

"The itsy bitsy spider went up the waterspout…"

The crying ceased almost instantly and the child looked up to its mother with its large eyes, gripping onto the hem of her nightgown, holding on, practically begging for more. She smiled down at her child and gently ran her fingers across his head

"Down came the rain and washed the spider out…"

The child's eyes grew heavy and it closed them, curling into its mother and pressing its head to her

"Out came the sun and dried up all the rain…"

The child was asleep just as fast as it had woken up. She didn't know what it was about this song that stirred the baby so. She had never seen such a reaction in any movie on the internet or any book or any other parent. Just hers. Just her little boy. She set the baby down in the crib gently, pulling the blankets over it.

"And the itsy bitsy spider…walked up the spout again…"

-Chapter 1

_Case 463: -2 hours_

Dreams, on the rare occasion that he received any, were a thing he clung to desperately. Something, anything, to escape the real world to a plane where he had complete control, should he remember how to control it and realize it was a dream before waking from it. This time he was more fortunate to remember and twisted it to his wishes for the simple dream he desired.

He walked along the beach wearing only his black and red swim trunks, the ones he had bought a few months prior at the mall while he was shopping for dinner. He liked those swim trunks. And it was a shame he hadn't been able to wear them yet. Or even go to the beach for that matter...

He walked along the sand, holding a mint chocolate ice cream cone in his hand, licking what ran down the cone and onto his fingers. Nothing ever tasted real in a dream. He pushed the realization asside, knowing if he focused too much on the not real then he would awaken. He heard her giggle beside him and he turned his head to look at her. He smiled at the girl beside him, noticing her slender fingers and arm wrapped around his waist. Her hands were warm and soft. He smiled at her and leaned over, kissing her forehead. The girl, shorter than he was, black hair down to the small of her back, wearing a slightly more revealing that neccessary swimsuit, giggled again and leaned her head over, resting it on his shoulder. He had his arm around her and pulled her a little closer as they walked. It was warm outside.

He noticed her chocolate ice cream was dripping from her cone as well which ran down her fingers and onto the sand. She didn't seem to care.

"You better eat that before it melts"

He could feel her smile in his shoulder and she brought it up to her mouth, licking at it. She seemed happy enough, and so he in turn was happy.

There were so few specifics he could make out from the dream, and it only made him fear deep down inside of him that he would awaken and lose the dream. But the acknowledgement of the fear only made it worse. He didn't want to leave yet. He was happy. For a brief moment he was actually happy. Happy with the setting, happy with the girl, happy with the tasteless ice cream, and even happy with the fact that it was only a dream.

But all good things had to come to an end. And when it began to get foggy, he felt a pang of disappointment and even a dash of sorrow rush through him as the girl stepped from him, disappearing in a wisp of grey smoke. He sighed and stopped walking along the now cold sand and turned his gaze to the watery horizon, his eyes dancing upon the details as the water rose from the ocean and blew away like leaves. The sun grew more and more distant until it was nothing more than a star in the black sky. He was alone on the beach, now his own little six by six patch of nothing. Nothing existed past that patch of sand he stood on.

He was still dreaming, but now there was only so much he could change . He leaned down, tying up one of his shoes, pulling the black laces tight in a bow. As he stood up, he adjusted his dark blue tie. No little gold chain on it this time. He turned his hands upward, gripping the sleeves of his suit jacket and pulling them down to straighten them. He liked this suit. He ran a hand through his black hair and shook it out, his hair in that in between spot between needing a haircut and too long. He was ready for what came next. And he had been having such a good time…

He waited to hear the growl. The deep throaty sound of the animal that stood behind him echoed in the blackness. Always there. Always watching. He was always watching. He didn't turn around as the footsteps approached him, feeling the sand beneath his shoes shift to accommodate the animal behind him. He could feel the beast's presence towering over him. He could feel the hot lingering breath brush against the back of the neck. He wasn't scared. How could he be? He had been here so many times before.

The sound of metal on metal cut through the silence between the two of them as its weapon was drawn from its sheath. The tip of the thick blade came down alongside his left shoulder just barely avoiding contact with the sleeve of his jacket. He could see himself in the reflection of the shiny blade as it came to rest alongside his arm and hand. The creature behind him took in a deep breath and just as sound came from it, just as the roar was about to leave its jaws, he felt a shake inside of him as he fought to suppress the animals roar boiling up inside him.

His eyes opened quickly and he pushed himself away from his window seat to sit upright. His eyes moved from side to side in panic, taking in his surroundings having completely forgotten where he was. He was alone. He glanced into the next cart of the train. No one. He glanced into the cart behind him. A few people. Man. woman. Two children. He couldn't see a ring on the woman's hand. They were the man's children. He shook his head and sat back upright in his seat. Only then did he realize his breathing was erratic. He took deep breaths trying to calm himself. His chest hurt and he leaned his head back against his seat, trying to calm down and calm his furiously beating heart.

He rubbed at the spot in his chest that hurt, sighing as he took big gulps of air to calm down. And eventually he did. He let out his breaths slowly. If he smoked, now would be the time he wanted one the most. He turned his head slowly; letting it fall to one side as he looked out the window, hand still on his chest rubbing.

It was beautiful outside the train. And even though he was still a little shaken, he smiled watching the trees wiz past the glass along with tall grass and small houses. The country. A far simpler life. Sometimes, even places time had forgotten entirely.

His smile faded quickly when he heard the growl again and he chewed his tongue a bit before responding.

"You couldn't let me get just a few hours of sleep, could you?"

He was angry, but at the same time, he trusted the voice in his head with his life. He would get over it.

"I was having a good dream"

The growl responded again in his mind as he leaned forward, to hold his head and run his hands along his face trying to wipe away the sleep. He was exhausted. And the time change between here and home was ridiculous. He had been hoping for at least two days to get over his jet lag, but he supposed this was one of those times where not sleeping was a gift rather than a curse when switching between such drastic time zones.

He opened his eyes from between his fingers. His shoe was untied. He sighed and reached down, tying it in its tight bow. He looked down at his tie. Good. The small gold chain was there.

He leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes. The low constant growl in his ears would keep him awake, but at least he could get a cat nap in before his stop.

"Attention all passengers, attention all passengers: Next stop, Yasoinaba station. Next stop, Yasoinaba station"

"Damn it"

He sighed and stretched out his arms and legs before he stood up. He had been sitting for hours. He wanted nothing more than to get to his place and fall down on his bed and go to sleep. But he knew that it wasn't meant to be. He wouldn't fall asleep anyway. Not with the growling. But he **was** hungry. Maybe he could convince his co-worker to get something to eat if he paid. He reached up above him to his bags, pulling down his suitcase and the case for his violin. He got down on his knees by his seat and cracked the case. It was fine. A flood of relief ran through him before snapping the case shut again and getting up.

There seemed to be more people on the train now. When had they been there? Had they always been there? He thought not. But perhaps in his sleep induced and panic struck stupor he had missed them when he had looked around. He was content with that answer. He could count maybe twelve that were getting off. Several families no doubt coming back from a small weekend trip to the city and a few business men of various skill sets in their jobs based on their shoes. One scraggly looking, un-kept man with a gold watch caught his eye as he took down his bags. The man looked more exhausted than he did. Nice watch. He followed the small crowd as they made their way to the appropriate doors to exit the train as it came to its screeing gentle stop.

As he stepped off the train and made his way through the small terminal, he glanced about looking for his handler. He couldn't see them. He expected the Inaba police to be more punctual than this. Then again, this wasn't the city. But in his mind he put the detective on a higher place and had expected them to be on time if not early. Was the detective waiting outside?

"Sebastian Chastity?"

His name twitched his ears as he turned in the direction of it. The voice, quiet and smooth yet authoritative.

"Are you detective Chastity?"

The voice came from near the exit of the terminal and he followed his name. The English was superb for this deep into the country. Signs of a rather intelligent being. His hopes were not dashed for the detective.

When he finally saw his handler he threw away all previous notions of the tardiness of both the police department and the detective and gave them a clean slate in his head. The detective had been there then entire time out of the way of the crowd, hidden in the shadows of the terminal. The scraggly man with the gold watch was standing in front of who he assumed was his handler, suitcase in hand.

The man's hair was black and un-kept. It looked a little greasy. His grey suit, which was cheap and hideous, was wrinkled and stained in several places. The buttons were in their wrong place making the suit look uneven. His suitcase was thick plastic and had articles of clothing hanging out from it. Several pieces of paper stuck from it as well. Work and clothing in the same bag. The man kept pushing his glasses back onto his face. A representation of his lack of care or funding to purchase proper prescription glasses being evident. He deduced: no doubt outside of his work healthcare budget. If there was ever a man to represent a stereotype of stress, lack of professionalism, rushed, and straining, in the world, this was the man. He was sweating too.

The very idea that the detective would believe that this…husk…was him was almost a little hurtful. His employer had faxed his information to the Inaba police department five days ago. Did he not fax a picture? Or even e-mail one? It was 2014! How hard was it to attach a picture of him to an e-mail? Or perhaps it was scrambled like every other photo...

He was a little surprised he was getting angry over this and decided to simply swallow it to let the anger burn in his stomach.

The man waved off the detective as he walked by, dismissing the misguided claim.

As he approached, he took the detective in, opening a new folder in his mind specifically for his handler. The detective wore a dark blue overcoat that covered most of their body with black slacks and a black dress shirt underneath the jacket with white ribbon around the neck. A bit more of an un-necessary aesthetic choice, but he had his gold chain on his tie so he wasn't one to complain. Black boots on their feet. They looked expensive. Good. The detective had taste. Finally, atop their head rested a blue hat almost like a signature to the piece. Nice hat. The detective wore black gloves pulled back tight. He noticed the damage around the wrists of the gloved. They were pulled often. The detective wore a slender black watch around the right wrist. It too looked expensive. The detective looked good.

The detective checked the time. Then again. Then a third time. He finally called out as he approached, weaving his way through the small crowd not wanting to touch anyone. And as he approached, the constant growling in his head that kept him awake, the growl that prevented him from sleeping and always spoke outright and guided him through his hardships and troubled times… grew silent and faded away. For a moment, he felt so alone in the world and was awestruck at the event. The creature from his dreams and nightmares had grown quiet. Why? He felt…hollow. And at the same time, he felt so tired, like he could have passed out right there on the stone of the train terminal. He even felt his legs start to shake slightly and he bit down hard on his tongue to prevent himself from faltering as he moved.

"What is it?"

There came no response. No growl or jaw snap or snarl or words of any kind. Silence. He stopped for a moment and spoke again.

"Don't disappear on me now. What's wrong?"

He tried to focus, now in a slight state of panic. He didn't have time for this. This was entirely unprofessional. He could hear it breathing. He could hear the creature inside of him breathing quietly in the blackness of his mind. He could feel it shying away.

"Fine. Be that way. But if you cause any problems then I'm not eating breakfast tomorrow. Understand?"

In the back of his mind he heard the faintest growl before silence resumed. It was strange being inside his head again with no one there to listen into his thoughts or ideas without retort or comment or praise. A little liberating even. At the same time, wrong. He cleared his throat and bit his tongue again to get himself moving.

"Detective!"

He cleared his throat before speaking again.

"Detective Shirogane?"

As the figure turned to look at him, he gave a small smile and bent his knees to place his suitcase and violin case on the ground. Hands by his sides, he bowed his head.

"It is an honor to meet you in person, Detective"

Before he even leaned up, three little words flooded into his mind.

_'Case 463: Start.'_


	2. Chapter 2

Case 463: -525 hours

How long had it been? Two? Three years? No. Two years. Two years since the last reported incident. And now, hands trembling as he took down notes, the police officer on the phone began to panic deep inside his chest. His phone call hadn't even ended yet, nor had he told a superior, but already he was sweating up a storm. The woman on the phone was frantic, breathing rapidly, and words tumbled out of her mouth in terror. Two years. Two years of quiet. And now this. He said his thanks and goodbyes, taking down the woman's name and number before he slowly pried the phone off his head and set it down on his desk.

For a moment, the young police officer said nothing, sitting quietly at his desk, his chest raising and dropping deeply as he tried to prevent himself from having a panic attack. How long would this one go on for? The last one lasted a year. But this one? How many would die this time?

Slowly on shaking legs, the man stood up from his seat and let it roll back. He moved carefully from his desk, heading to his superiors office down the hallway, dragging his feet as he moved. He wondered if he would pass out before he hit the office, and rather than collapse and make a fool of himself, he used his hand to push and brace against the wall as he moved to prevent it from happening. When he reached the thick wooden door of the police chief's office, he paused as he moved to knock, losing his nerve. He took a deep breath and swallowed hard before knocking. The chief was in a meeting. This could get bad.

The man sitting in the meeting in the chair opposite the desk, pressed against the window was a younger man than the chief. His hair was short and black with slight signs of grey running along its sides making his hair look more of a salt and pepper look than straight black. His face had light stubble growing from it. He wore black slacks with a brown belt around his waist and black boots. A dark grey dress shirt was buttoned up to the second last button with a red…no…auburn tie. Normally it would be a hard color to mix, but he pulled it off. Well done. An abused pack of cigarettes rested in his shirt's breast pocket and he had his black jacket resting over the chair's arm. He had his legs crossed. At the knock, he looked at his watch; he had expected to be uninterrupted for the next hour or so.

The police chief leaned back in his chair as he looked through the glass at the man at the door. He had specifically requested not to be disturbed. The larger man, black dress shirt, black belt, and grey slacks sighed and apologized to the man sitting in his office. He indicated that he was busy and extended his arm to tell the person he was still in the middle of his meeting. But the man swallowed, nodded, and knocked again. The chief sighed and leaned forward in his chair, arms on his desk now, lacing his fingers before motioning for the man to enter. He was a little angry. He had asked specifically not to be bothered and here he was.

The man opened the door slowly and took a step inside, closing the door behind him; the blind rattling against the glass on connection. The man stepped into the room, practically between the two people…undoubtedly between the two people with the most pull in in the police force in the whole city. He bowed his head, clenching his fists tightly to stop his hands from shaking. The chief spoke first

"I asked specifically not to be bothered"

The man nodded his head, not speaking yet

"So, I hope that whatever it is is worth the interruption between detective Dojima and I"

The man nodded again

Ryotaro Dojima leaned forward in his seat, checking his watch again. He hoped it wouldn't take too much time. He was twenty three minutes behind schedule as it was. He spoke out, wanting to move the situation along.

"What is it, son?"

The man cleared his throat before speaking to no one in particular

"Two bodies have been found three blocks from Junes…Sir. Two men. Middle aged.

There are stories of a place in Minnesota; a quiet room. The room is said to be 99.99% soundproof and holds a world record for its achievement. The most quiet room in the world. People have said that when in the room alone, they can hear their blood pumping through their veins. One man has even claimed that he could hear and feel his hair grow inside this room. Whatever feelings one would experience in that room, this room was worse in the almost eighteen seconds of silence that followed suit before anyone said or did anything. It was an almost magical moment those eighteen seconds of panic and internal chaos. There was no clearing of throats, no scratching or anyone shifting in their own cloths. Pure…beautiful…chaos.

It was the chief that made the first move, leaning back in his chair causing it to squeak. The sound snapped the two other men out of their stupors as well and Dojima looked down to his watch, pulling his sleeve over it. There went any plans he may have had and time was no longer relevant. The chief looked slowly over to his associate.

"Two?"

The young officer nodded his head.

"Two"

The chief glanced over at Dojima.

"Two"

Dojima slowly stood from his seat with a sigh and rubbed his hands along his face before grabbing his jacket and throwing it over his shoulder.

He approached the young police officer and plastered a smile on his face.

"Thank you for the information, Son. Did you write down the address? The caller? Anything?"

The young officer nodded his head, just thankful he wasn't in trouble. To the three of them, the meeting which had been a priority a second ago, was so far away from importance, they couldn't see it if they tried.

"Name, address, contact information, and location, Sir"

Dojima's plastered smile was replaced with a sincere one. Good. At least this one had competence. He patted the man on the shoulder and was just about to leave the office when the chief called out to him.

"Dojima."

He stopped, but didn't turn around, just listening, already working out factors of the case in his head. And he hoped that no one he knew, even though he knew everyone, had lost their lives.

"Bring the boy if he's still here"

"Don't worry, Sir. He's here"

Detective Naoto Shirogane tossed her ballpoint black pen into the trash bin beside her before reaching for another one from her desk drawer. Her fingers ached, but she wasn't done yet. She reached up with her free hand to adjust the headset she wore. Closing her eyes tightly, she focused on the sounds that came through the headset, writing down everything she heard on the sheets of paper in front of her. It was hard to focus on the background noise with so many people talking. Her office door was closed and the blinds down. She didn't want to be bothered when on a case. Someone had been stealing computer products from Junes ranking up quickly in price enough to get the police involved. Video tapes had turned up nothing. Every time she watched the security footage, the culprit was just out of eye shot of the cameras. She had deduced that it was someone working at the store that knew where the cameras were and knew how to move in their blind spots. Video had nothing. But perhaps she could hear something. The only people she knew at the store was Hanamura-san and Teddie. And they just…weren't that clever.

She bit down on her bottom lip in strain, trying to focus. The crowd was hard to cut out even for the techs. In a small place like Inaba, the mall was really all they had. And Junes only kept getting bigger. She heard a click and wrote it down. Metal? Shoes on the tile of the floor? A piece of jewelry? She wrote down her theories as she listened. Then the sound cut out entirely. She strained her ears for sound. Nothing. Her eyes opened and she let out a small yelp as she saw Dojima standing there, finger on the stop button of her recorder.

"D-Dojima-san"

Feeling a little embarrassed, she glared at him, taking her headset off and shaking out her hair which came down to her cheeks along the sides of her head and was pulled back in a ponytail behind her head with a tight band which perhaps was a little too tight and pulled her face back slightly.

"Making any progress, Detective?"

"I think I am Dojima-san. But I fear I will have to do some field work now. I keep hearing repetitious clicking noises but I cannot tell what they are. No doubt this will require me to investigate the more common workers of Junes to see what articles of clothing and accessories they wear."

Dojima closed the door to her office, sitting on the edge of her desk. He chewed on the inside of his cheek as he looked at her. She felt a little uneasy.

"What is it, Dojima-san?"

"We have to go for a drive"

A moment of panic washed over her and she forced it back to stop her body from shuddering. Dojima was never this calm.

"What happened?"

A small smile creased his face. She was good.

The story of Naoto being a woman had not yet run by the police department as of yet. Dojima had found out from his nephew and his daughter Nanako. And he, being an honest man, promised to not let it slip out and decided it would be best if the police department found out when Naoto was ready to tell them herself. It had been awkward at first, but after this long, he was more than fine with it. In truth, Naoto was one of the few people he could talk to in the police department. She knew things before he even had to say them. And they worked very well together, although they did have their problems from time to time. Naoto was by the book in everything she did, whereas he was a little unorthodox. But they did work well.

Dojima sighed with the smile and let it fade away, standing back up, grabbing for his cigarettes. He tipped the pack back against his mouth and let one slid between his lips. He looked down the pack. Two left. Damn. He would have to make them count. Last pack. He promised last pack. But he also promised that the last pack was the last pack. And the pack before that pack was the last pack. Last pack. You promised.

No smoking was allowed in the building, but they were heading off. He chewed on the filter thoughtfully, reaching into his pocket to grab his lighter, gripping it tightly in his hand.

"Two bodies found three blocks from Junes."

Naoto felt her blood run cold and a wave of panic swept through her body.

"The guy who answered the call wrote down the specifics. I sent two patrols down there already to keep the public back. But we will need to move quickly for you to get some data before dark."

Naoto looked at the clock on her computer. It had fallen asleep and she tapped the mouse to wake it up. 2pm. The days were getting shorter. At this rate, if she was there now, she would only be able to investigate for about two hours. She stood up, pushing her chair back and pulling her hat down, which rested on her desk just within reach, onto her head, turning it to its right spot and tucking her ponytail up under it. She opened the drawer of her desk and pulled out several new pens and her small red notebook. She would have to get a new one soon. This one was almost out of pages. She moved past her partner and slid the book and pens into her jacket, pulling it off its coat rack and throwing it over her shoulders. She was ready.

Dojima pulled his lighter from his pocket the moment they walked from the doors of the station and lit up his cigarette as they walked towards his car. Naoto moved to the passenger side and stood there, waiting to be let in. Dojima unlocked the door to his side and leaned over to unlock her door. As she sat down, she pulled out her notepad and one of her new pens, already opening a new case file within the pages.

Dojima gave her the details as they drove to the scene, which she wrote down. Two men. Middle aged. One found hanging from a satellite dish, and other hanging from the man. Naoto made sure to write down the little details. She would have to involve Teddie, if she could find him, to see if he had felt anything in the other world. If she was going to solve this quickly before any more deaths occurred, she would have to re-use data from the old case. She was a bit frustrated as she considered that maybe Teddie hadn't been in the other world when the victims had been there. She scribbled down and underlined "no fog" in her book. A key factor in the old case.

There had also been no news of the midnight channel. No one had showed up on it, nor had there even been a notion it was still working. So many assumptions, keys to that case and possibly this one too was wasted and useless knowledge. She wondered if the others had heard. News, she now understood, traveled fast in a small town like this. This of course was all assuming that these had anything to do with the midnight channel or that other world in the first place. She knew that it was a terrible thing to assume, but at the same time, she knew to leave the assumptions open.

There were things from the first case she would need to keep an eye on to prevent further death. Not wanting a repeat of last time, she knew she needed to get her hands on the one who found the bodies first to ensure her safety. But…Adachi…

She bit her lip in frustration. She hadn't even been to the crime scene yet and already she was making assumptions and baseless theories. She needed to calm down. This most likely had nothing to do with the other world. There had been a copycat previously. Perhaps this…she was doing it again and bit harder. She cleared her head of the fog and looked down at her pad, her eyes now coming onto focus. She had made a mess of notes which were all pretty much useless unless she could stick to some of the claims. She was more frustrated now and put the pad back into her pocket with her pen, just sitting quietly, looking out the window.

Dojima could feel the atmosphere grow thick as she became more and more frustrated with herself and the case that hadn't even started yet. He assumed that somewhere inside her she also felt a little frustrated that some detective with a double digit IQ would no doubt take over her previous case. And get it wrong no less. But he kept quiet till they arrived at the scene, glancing over only slight every so often when he would blow smoke out the window to look into her notebook. Messy writing.

When they arrived on the scene, a small crowd had already begun to gather. He dropped the butt of his cigarette onto the ground and twisted it under his boot before drawing another from his pack and slipping it behind his ear for later. He turned the pack upside down as he put it back, refusing to let his, possibly, last smoke fall out and rob him of the moment they would spend together. He loved smoking. But he also wanted to dance with Nanako at her wedding.

As Dojima pushed his way through the crowd, Naoto coming quickly from behind, he tried to get a look past the police taped off area. Four police officers kept back the crowd while the other three officers were on the roof of the small house. No doubt the chief sent more officers. This was a too many people for two patrols. He hoped none of them would destroy any evidence. At least it wasn't raining. Aside from the bodies hanging from it, it was a nice dish. Nanako would probably love the cartoons she could get off of it. If she even watched cartoons anymore. He sighed internally. He would have to call home to tell her not to wait for him.

"Detective-"

"I understand Dojima-san"

She pushed past him and ducked under the tape, turning only slightly as she moved.

"Make your call"

Dojima pushed his way back through the crowd, trying to find a quiet spot before pulling out his cell phone. It rang twice before he heard her pick up. The sweet voice on the other side of the line always made him smile. And ache.

"Hello? Dojima residence"

"Hey sweetheart"

"Hi dad!"

It killed him when he did this. He would rather take the cigarette than the disappointment of letting his daughter down. But he took a deep breath and tried to sound as apologetic as he could. It never got any easier.

Detective Shirogane climbed the ladder resting against the side of the house. As she stood up, she looked over the edge at the people on the street. She called to one of the officers.

"Get these people out of here. This is a crime scene. Not the movie theater"

The officer waved in acknowledgement and with his fellow officers tried to get the people to move along.

She worked her way along the steep roof, keeping crouched slightly to lower her center of gravity and not slip as she moved.

"Afternoon detective"

"Good afternoon, gentlemen"

After solving the first case, the police department had become much more…friendly…than before. And the people that worked there, regardless of her age, had begun to accept her. Or rather, him. It had taken some time, but she was now one of the preverbal "guys."

As she approached the two men, hanging off one another, then took note of their cloths. One dressed in a three piece suit. It looked expensive. When they were finally on the ground, she would be able to get a better look at the designer. Maybe back trace their identity if they did not have ID on them. Though she doubted a man dressed in that fashion did not have a wallet on him. The other man was dressed in dark black jeans and converse shoes. He wore a red hoddie and hung off the man in the suit off the clip in his belt; hanging over him upside down like a tilting stack of people.

For a moment, she wondered if there would be any damage to the satellite dish. They probably should have gotten them off it before the metal gave way.

She moved around to the other side of the roof to get a look at the men's faces. They were stoic. Relaxed even. No signs of struggle on the neck or faces of either of them. But then a realization hit her and she was surprised it wasn't the first thing that came to mind. They were Caucasian. She hadn't seen them before. This was a small town. She knew practically everyone. Who were these men?

At the sound of the squeal of metal, she stumbled backwards, falling down onto the rooftop, landing on her backside as the satellite dish gave way with the weight of the bodies that now fell from the dish. She tried to catch one, but she was too slow. The man in the hoodie fell onto the roof and slid to a stop on the slant. But the man in the suit rolled over the man in the hoodie, slid off the roof, and landed with a thud on the ground. There were a few screams from the onlookers.

"I said get them out of here"

"You heard him! Get these people out of here!"

Dojima pushed his way through the crowd and ducked under the tape. He approached one of the police officers.

"What do you think you are doing? Get that body covered up"

The officer saluted and rushed off in the wrong direction to get one of the sheets out of the ambulance that had pulled up a few minutes before. So instead Dojima moved for it, calling for one of the drivers for a sheet. They tossed him one from the back of the vehicle and he caught it mid stride towards the body. Naoto stood at the edge of the roof, looking down at the body. She chewed the inside of her bottom lip. What data had been destroyed in the fall?

As dojima reached down to put the sheet over the body, he looked at the man's face, giving pause. He caught on as well. Caucasian. And foreign. He looked to Naoto as he stood up, taking in the man's body a little more.

"Any idea who this is, Detective?"

"I haven't the faintest idea, Dojima-san"

Case 463: -521 hours


	3. Chapter 3

Case 463: -520 hours

The body of the man in the red hoodie was slowly brought down from the roof by two of the police officers on the scene. Naoto had, minutes before, joined Detective Dojima on the ground. The red hooded man was laid down alongside the man in the suit with care by the two officers from the roof. By this time, Naoto already had her pad out, scribbling down notes and flipping pages for the two different men. Cloths, visible jewelry, markings on face and hands, estimated height, estimated weight, and hair color just to name a few.

When she had written down what she needed visually, she reached her hand back to Detective Dojima with her pad and pen. He took them from the detective and waited as she pulled her jacket off and handed it back to him. He took the jacket from her as well but she held her hand back this time rather than draw it back. He reached onto the clip on his belt, popped the little white plastic container open and pulled out a set of disposable rubber gloves, handing them to her. They were like clockwork the two of them.

It always bothered Dojima a little bit when they worked together. Naoto was a brilliant mind who saw and knew things that would have taken him vastly longer to see or understand or, sometimes, comprehend. He sometimes, like now, felt like he wasn't even necessary for the detective. As if he was the assistant and she the ace between the two of them. But she was good at what she did and always got the job done. He, for now, he would be her little assistant.

She snapped on her gloves and pulled the fingers of the gloves down several times to ensure they were secure and tight, clenching and unclenching her hands a few times before approaching the bodies. Dojima opened the notebook to one of the last few pages, drawing an underline below her messy notes to make his own. He noted the words "no fog" on the pages previous. She had the same notion he did. That bothered him. The first time something like this happened it had been hell. He didn't want a repeat of what happened last time to show itself. He hoped this was just a murder. And what an awful thing it was to hope...

She approached the man in the suit first from the outside, away from the man in the hoodie. She crouched down onto her knees and wrapped her slender fingers around the man's right wrist, raising his hand up to look at it. No scratch marks. Fingernails were clean too. They had been recently seen a manicure. They had been picked clean. No doubt a habit of the man to keep his nails clean. She looked at his wrist to find no signs of binding. He had no ring on his fingers or watch. She glanced over at the other one. A Rolex. She would get to it in a moment. She turned his hand over to look at his palm. Clean hands, the trace amounts of dirt on them from the ground around them. She cleared her throat and reached out, raising the other hand.

The same for the most part with clean, manicured nails. He had a gold band around his ring finger. She pulled it off with a bit of effort and turned it in her fingers to look on the inside. Worn on both ends. Happily married. She felt a little guilty now knowing she would have to report to the wife of the man's demise. She slipped the ring back onto his finger before moving for the watch to look at its design.

Lovely model when she thought of it. She always wanted one of these expensive toys but she could never afford one on a detective's salary. Even as a Shirogane. She checked the buttons. Stiff. Never really pressed down on. She checked the time against her own watch, extending her right arm out to pull back to sleeve before looking at her sleek black watch. It was wrong. It was in fact five hours wrong.

Five hours… five hours behind. That would put him in…Russia. Or Europe somewhere perhaps. Kazakhstan? Probably not. Not like this.

She moved for the man's face now, looking along his neck for bruising. Nothing. She pulled back the eyelid of his right eye. Brown. She opened his mouth to look inside. He had a lot of fillings, white spots jumping out where he had had a cavity before. He liked sweets. Europe was looking good. She checked the hem of his jacket and underneath the rim pulling back nothing on her glove. There was plenty of information, but very little data. She ran her hands along the man's legs, trying for a wallet but found a cellphone in his right pocket. A white blackberry.

The screen of the device was cracked and was dead as well, the little battery icon popping up when she held down the power button. The phone died anywhere from 1 minute to eighteen hours ago pending the man's knowledge of the device. A good window of time to find out about the man's whereabouts. She set the phone down on the man's stomach.

Reaching her hand into the man's breast pocket, she smiled feeling the slick leather of a wallet. Bingo. She pulled the wallet from its pouch and cracked it, skimming through the contents quickly. Credit cards, money, ID. This wasn't a robbery. This was direct. Otherwise they would have taken his wallet. She pulled the man's ID from the wallet, reading the name out loud.

"Miles McDermott."

American.

The watch wasn't five hours behind. It was seventeen hours behind. Smack dab in the middle of the USA. Phoenix. She glanced down at the man. He was a long way from home. She folded the wallet back up, setting it on his stomach as well.

"Dojima-san"

"Go ahead"

"He's happily married. No signs of struggle on his upper…"

She leaned down towards his legs, lifting one leg of his slacks and then the other. Clean.

"…or lower body. He has money. Likes to show off with it. His nails are clean. Professionally manicured. And the fillings in his mouth are white fillings. Expensive. He has a Rolex watch on his left wrist, a gold ring on his left hand, a new blackberry phone most likely cracked in the fall and…"

She opened his wallet again to look through the bills, counting out loud as she thumbed through the bills.

"…20, 40, 60… 140…almost two hundred dollars in his wallet and three credit cards. Robbery is out. This was targeted."

She looked at the man's face. Why kill a rich man and not take his nice things?

"He's American. Phoenix Arrizona. He's 42 years old."

Dojima felt himself freeze up at the last part. American. What was he doing here? He made a note to himself to check the man's passport if he could find it. Perhaps they could find out where he was staying in Inaba. Did he have any friends? Or family? They would have to back check the man's identification to see when he had arrived in the country. Perhaps he was staying at the Amagi Inn. Most tourists did if they didn't know someone in town. The press release was going to be horrible. At the same time, as bad a thought as it was, he was hoping pictures of the two would spark some sort of identification for these men. Deeper insight to why they were there.

Naoto stood from the first body and moved to the other, looking over the man's features. She started at his head, checking around the hood before lifting the head up and pulling it back under the man's neck. His eyes were open slightly and she closed them, not one too comfortable or even familiar with seeing into the eyes of a dead man. No signs around the neck or wrists with this one either. She opened the man's mouth. Silver and white fillings mix. She closed his mouth again and performed the same examination with the man's fingers. They were a variety of sizes this time. He cut them himself at different intervals. How careless. Sloppy even. No markings on the wrists or hands. Clean. They were both clean, but this one had no jewelry of any kind. She reached into his front pocket, pulling out his cellphone. Samsung. She held down the side power button on the model in its American flag hard shell. It too was dead, the red depleted battery symbol flashing a few times before disappearing. She sighed. Both phones were dead. Samsung phones lasted longer than blackberries which unfortunately opened the window in which this man died. She would have to wait for someone from CSI to arrive to check liver temperature. But from what she knew so far, these men died recently. Probably that day.

She looked up at the roof. How had no one seen the bodies? In the previous case, the bodies didn't show up until the morning of the night prior. No way would no one have noticed the cadavers until this late in the day. That bothered her. It either meant that the bodies had been hanging there all morning and most of the afternoon…or worse that they had only showed up recently. She reached around the back of the man's jeans finding his wallet, pulling the thin black leather piece from his jeans. She cracked it. No cash. Only debit and credit cards. Robbery was a possibility. But she doubted it. She found the ID.

Nathan McDermott. Phoenix Arizona. Nineteen years old.

One year older than she was. She let loose a heavy sigh and looked over to the other body.

"This one is his son"

Dojima felt a small drop in his chest. Not only was the mother going to hear she lost her son, but her husband as well. He knew that feeling all too well when it came to losing someone he cared for. He couldn't imagine what the woman was going to feel like.

"Nathan McDermott. Nineteen. Same as his father: No marks or bruising or signs of struggle."

She stood up, straightening her back out as she looked down at the men. This was all wrong. It didn't match the previous case. But she was almost certain that the other world was involved. But that assumption, though feeling right, was still dangerous if she started to use facts to justify her claim rather than use facts to work up a claim. She needed to stick with the evidence. She slowly peeled back her gloves, tucking them into her back pocket of her slacks. She would need to work out some smaller, possibly greater, details for herself. Away from Dojima. She had to make some phone calls.

Dojima handed her jacket to the detective as she walked back and she slipped it around her shoulders before taking her notebook and pen from him, looking over his notes. There was very little to work with. Then again, the previous case did too. The other world… -she was doing it again. Assuming before having evidence. She bit her lower lip and slid her little book into her breast pocket before turning her eyes to her superior and partner.

He knew that look and nodded his head slowly. She already had ideas and needed to follow up on them. He would wait here for forensics to get there.

"I'll put a copy of the report on the desk by morning"

'Thank you Dojima-san. If you will excuse me, I have to get to work"

"Naoto"

Having started to walk away, she turned half way to look at him.

"Keep me in the loop this time, alright?"

Inside she felt a small smile forming. But she couldn't. IF and only IF her suspicious were correct, she couldn't keep him in the loop if she wanted too. Too many things he wouldn't understand or even believe. But she nodded anyway with her stern look, not knowing for sure if he believed her or not. But it really didn't matter. Not yet anyway.

"Call the woman who found them. Get a statement from her"

Dojima formed a small smirk on his face being almost given an order from his partner

"I'll get right on it, Sir"

She smiled at him as she turned back around, the smile instantly leaving her face as she walked away, reaching into her pocket for the notebook, beginning to write down her assessment of the crime scene.

Luckily for her, her destination was only three blocks away. But those three blocks she needed to travel seemed like an eternity as she walked, her mind flipping through the data of the old case and tossing away the information that was essential to that one and useless in this one. What a bother. Almost nothing necessary or ground breaking remained. No fog, no midnight channel; possibly; nothing out of the ordinary. But…she was certain that the other world was involved. It couldn't have been a coincidence. No stab wounds, or gunshot wounds or discoloration to suggest poisoning or any evidence to suggest a more common place foul play. She bit her lower lip as she wrote down notes and scratched out that which was irrelevant.

She let her legs carry her where they would, almost bumping into telephone poles and garbage and mail boxes towards her destination. She was too focused on her work to care what she bumped into. Too much was wrong about this case. And as much as she wanted to, she couldn't push the assumption that this was another murder like the one two years ago. It pained her to make the assumption, but there was too much coincidence for it to be anything else.

Was this how it was to be for the rest of her life? That every time someone had the powers her and her friends wanted to kill someone to just throw them into the TV and have them end up in Inaba? That was a puzzling thought. Were all TVs linked to Inaba? Were there just going to be bodies after bodies through the rest of time that would show up on telephone poles, rooftops, TV antennas, or even a flag pole generation after generation long after she had retir-

"Ding"

The sound almost made Naoto jump out of her skin as the wall in front of her moved out of her way, parting, and a warm breeze of air washed over her face and chest. She looked around quickly, having forgotten what she was doing. The automatic doors she had walked in front of began to close again and she took a large step forward to not get squished between them. The music was what really snapped her back into reality and cleared her mind to focus on the here and now. That familiar jingle unconsciously made her inner voice sing to its chimes. Amazing. Once the realization panic had set in, she had walked the three blocks in almost an instant. She wondered if anyone had been driving along and had to stop to let her pass. She would have had to have crossed at least seven roads in that three blocks to get here. That had been very stupid for her to do. She could have been killed.

The music picked up inside her head again as she turned to walk towards the two large elevator doors, the button beneath her hand clicking as she pressed the button which lit up on her touch with a "bing." After a quick look around, she pressed her lips together, humming quietly.

Every day's great at your Junes

Case 463: -518 hours


	4. Chapter 4

Case 463: -185 hours

David Marlow stood quietly at the end of the street corner, cigarette hanging from his mouth, his hands buried in the pockets of his coat. He checked his watch. 11:45. He should have been at home sleeping. He had a plane to catch in the morning. He took a long puff off his cigarette and tapped the residual ash off it, watching as the small licks of light blew away in the wind. He made a mental note to grab another pack from a gas station or something before he went home to his apartment.

He leaned against one of the street lamps and pulled his collar up. He hated waiting, but he had specific orders. His eyes watched the bar across the street labeled "High Red" as men and women of different social ladders strolled from it, both only those majorly from the middle and upper class. He knew the man inside had a taste for class. As cold as it was, he had to wait for the house lights to turn up, an indication that it was empty for him to make his move.

After a few minutes and the last few stragglers made their way from the bar, the lights on the inside of the building turned on. He took a long, long drag off his cigarette and dropped it to the floor, twisting it beneath his shoe before crossing the street.

The High Red was a lounge for those with a little more money to throw around than others, a large black building on the outside with its name in large white and red fluorescent lights along the front. Two large glass doors with red carpets were at the entrance to greet him. It had been marked as a place of overpriced drinks and mediocre entertainment. Still. The location was not his decision.

A man in his late thirties stood at the door with a thick leather black jacket on. He wore sunglasses at midnight. A typical bouncer with a double digit IQ and a triple digit income. David stopped in place when the man held his hand out to stop him.

"I'm sorry, Sir, but we're closed for the evening. Why not come back tomorrow?"

David eyed the man up and down, taking into account his cheap Wal-Mart shoes, blue jeans and t-shirt under his jacket reading "High Red" on the right hand side. The man wore gloves. His hands must get cold easy. The balding blond man had two piercings on his right eyebrow and three on his left ear that ran along the rim. He looked as stupid as he sounded. But David, in his black sweater, brown leather jacket, black jeans and yellow and blue striped tie was not about to be stopped by this idiot. The packages in his pockets weighed a little heavier with the concept of being denied entrance.

"I'm not here for a drink. I want to talk to the man inside"

"I'm sure you do, Sir, but I'm afraid you will have to come back tomorrow"

"Not that man"

The bouncer gave pause for a moment, taking the man's face into consideration, looking over his stern look and his business like attire before taking a step to the side and holding the door open for him.

"He's on the piano"

Why had David expected him any other place?

As he took his first few steps into the lounge he was greeted by several of the employees with puzzled looks on their faces as to why he was inside the building. He ignored most of them. He had never really been inside this particular bar, but if any place was to be from the 1940's, this was it. It did have class about it with its glass tables and leather stools. Everything was clean and shiny, demanding attention and praise. A bar dressed to impress. But even with all its fanciness and chandeliers and its black marble dance floor, all David saw was a place to buy and consume alcohol. But then his ears caught the music in the air, the keys of the piano cutting through the silence of the bar, interrupted only by the woman behind the bar cleaning glasses.

He made his way towards the noise in a separate section of the bar behind the dance floor, spotting the black haired man sitting behind the piano, playing in a calming manner and singing quietly. The song had just started, and as David approached, his pace slowed to a stop to listen. He could have used a drink when he thought about it. He would wait for the song to be over first before he interrupted the man.

He moved to the bar, smiling at the girl behind it. She was clearly under the same ideas of not serving a patron after hours as the bouncer outside. But she seemed a little more willing when he opened his wallet and placed a fifty on the table.

"I'm with him"

He indicated the man behind the piano and the woman took one of the glasses off the stack

"Scotch on the rocks"

She poured him the drink after placing two ice cubes in his glass. She took the fifty happily and returned several bills in return. He put on a fake smile and left one on the counter once he had taken his drink, swirling it before taking a sip. It was ok.

Making his way back over to the piano, rather than interrupting the man, a mistake he was sure he would regret if he did, he sat on one of the leather stools as an audience member and watched the man.

He was too young to be in a place like this. Early 20's if that. He wore a black dress shirt and blazer buttoned up with a black silk tie hanging from his neck, a small gold chain pinned through the tie. His black slacks fit him comfortably to his 5'8-5'10 athletic build. On of his boots pressed down on one of the pedals beneath the instrument and his lips parted as he began to sing his song in a soft and respectable voice.

"She wore blue Velvet"

His fingers slowly danced along the keys as he sang, his eyes closed, singing to himself rather than to anyone else. David knew the song, but kept quiet rather than joining in or even humming to it.

"Bluer than velvet was the night"

He took a sip of his drink, careful not to make such a loud clink on the glass table as he set his drink down, tracing his thumb along the glass. He noticed the bottle of wine on the piano with the wine glass half empty beside it. They served him alcohol? That was illegal wasn't it?

"Softer than satin was the light from the stars"

It was illegal to serve a minor alcohol. How much had he consumed? David tried to see into the bottle with the light behind it. It was either empty or just past full. But his glass was half full... He had drunk the whole bottle.

"She wore blue velvet; bluer than velvet were her eyes"

Was he drunk? That seemed rather unprofessional for a Detective. Did anyone else know he was there? What about the case he was on?

"Warmer than May her tender sighs; love was ours"

This wasn't really turning out to be the meeting he had had in mind. A drunken detective under aged in a bar. Fucking fantastic. He took another hit off his drink, taking a larger gulp this time.

When the song was over, before David could stand up, the young man at the piano spoke first as he reached for his drink.

"Mr. Marlow I presume"

David stayed seated. The young man had been expecting him. The boy took a long sip off his wine and set the glass back down before placing his fingers back onto the keys, playing another song from the beginning, but not singing this time.

"I would like to thank you for not interrupting my performance as you entered. I understand presumably that you are a very busy man. I would hate to waste your time."

David stood up finally with his drink and made his way over to the piano, getting a good look at the fare skinned young man at the piano.

"Detective Chastity?"

The boy played his song a little faster now, speeding up the tempo.

"Please, Mr. Marlow. For the moment, let's pretend we're friends. Call me Sebastian"

David eyed the man, then the wine bottle. It was empty. He had gone through the whole thing. Sebastian followed the man's eyes with his own green eyes.

"Let's also not pretend that you really care if I'm drinking. And no. I'm not drunk."

He began to strike the keys of the piano with a little more force than necessary

"While most people are ending their evening at this time, I am only beginning mine"

"Weren't you on a case this morning?"

"Finished"

"When?"

"About six hours ago"

"Our case?"

"Your employer's case. _WE_ have no business together"

"I work for him"

"And that means what exactly?"

"He wants results"

"Three squads were dispatched about thirty minutes ago to pick up our perpetrators. I expect them to have at least seven years each. Less they turn on one another. Expect that"

Sebastian stopped playing

"What do you want, Mr. Marlow? I would rather my whole evening not be taken up by this little transaction of ours"

David was a little hesitant now. His boss had told him that this boy was volatile when the right buttons were pushed. And he had a feeling that he was pushing all the buttons he needed to push. So rather than see what this boy could do, he cleared his throat and reached his hand into his left pocket, pulling a small envelope from it and setting it on the piano. Sebastian eyed the letter and placed his fingers back onto the keys, continuing his song, slower now.

"What's that?"

"A bonus. He already knew you had solved the case."

"I know. Tell him too keep the delivery boys out of my office next time."

"You knew?"

"There is very little that escapes my attention Mr. Marlow. Anything else?"

David reached into his other pocket, pulling a small clear bottle carrying a yellow liquid inside, setting it on the piano. Sebastian stopped playing, looking at the bottle as a small smile spread across his face. He picked it up, turning it over to look at the label. He pulled the top from it and dipped his pinky finger into it before drawing it to his lips. It was delicious.

"Oh this is special. Please give him my thanks"

"He had that imported directly from Italy"

"He has good taste."

David let out a small sigh of relief. His employer had told him to make sure he had received the bottle above all else. But in all honesty, he was just happy to have it out of his pocket.

Sebastian set the bottle back onto the top of the piano. Olive oil. Superb. He couldn't wait to have some of it with breakfast in a few hours. This was turning out to be quite the nice evening. Wine, a job completed, a bonus, and now olive oil. He loved eating. He loved cooking. Quality and freshness made all the difference. And you couldn't get more fresh than this.

"If your employer needs anything else done, please give him my number. My cell is always on"

David nodded his head, tilting his head back to drink the last of his scotch, the ice cubes rattling around in his glass with the tilt as he set it down on the piano.

"If our business if concluded Detective Chastity, I will be on my way"

Sebastian stood up to shake the man's hand firmly

"Have a good morning Mr. Marlow"

"You too, Detective"

David shook the young man's hand in return; a little surprised his grip was so firm. He smiled and took his leave, so happy he could just go home and sleep now. But as he moved to leave, a thought struck him just out of curiosity and he turned to face the detective again.

"Why is no one is bothering you? This bar is closed isn't it?"

Sebastian smiled a little as he slid the index finger of his right hand across of the higher keys at the end of the piano, his body rocking with his own tempo.

"I did some work for the owner a few months ago. Since then he lets me play until they lock up for the night. So I have about two hours to myself from the time the last patron leaves to the time the last employee leaves. A fair business arrangement if you ask me."

"And the alcohol to a minor?"

Sebastian's smile grew a little wider

"As long as I pay them, no one ever cards me"

He played with only his right hand as he grabbed for his drink again, sipping at the remaining amount of his drink before he returned to playing.

"Good evening "

Taking that as a polite 'Fuck off," David took several steps back from his spot before turning around to leave the bar. He was going to sleep well tonight. As he left he waved to the girl behind the bar who smiled as she left her place behind the bar to go and get the glass he had left on the piano as well as to collect the boys drink as well. He pulled his collar up and crossed his coat over his chest, zipping it up as the wind picked up. Tonight was going to suck, but at least he was done with work and could go home and get about four hours of sleep before his plane.

The blond girl tried to make a quiet approach to the boy, even though heels on marble was hard to dampen the noise of at this quiet a time in the night. Sebastian glanced up only quickly to look at her, smiling sweetly as she approached. She smiled back although he had looked back down at the keys before closing his eyes. She took the man's glass in one hand and Sebastian's in the other. She spoke quietly.

"So…do you have any plans later tonight?"

He smiled and opened his eyes again as he looked up to her

"I appreciate the offer, Carmen, but I'm too crazy for you"

She looked disappointed. A girl as pretty as her wasn't told 'no' often.

"Oh come on Seb. You've been coming here for weeks you have barely said one word to me. Maybe I like crazy. How about we get breakfast?"

He slowed his playing.

"I appreciate it, Carmen, I really do. A pretty girl like you knows what she wants. But you don't want me."

He returned to his playing.

"I come with a lot of baggage. I don't want to push it onto anyone."

"Not even breakfast?"

"Not even an exchange of numbers"

He winked at her. She smiled in return with a sigh.

"Well if you change your mind, my offer will still be open"

He nodded and looked back down at his keys, never stopping his sway as he changed songs, turning his head ever so slightly and cracking his eyes to watch her hips sway as she walked away. The growl in his head let lose a few quiet words.

"Shut up. Last thing I need is you inside my head while I'm trying to have sex."

It growled but quickly grew silent.

At about 1:37am, the bouncer had decided to leave his post to go home, saying a quick few goodbyes to the employees and the man at the piano. He had been working there three weeks and no one would tell him the boy's name. Sebastian had considered him temporary help with the establishment and therefore didn't want to form a connection with the man in any way. That, and the growl didn't like him. That was good enough a reason as any for the detective. But he was still friendly to him and gave him a small wave as he left to go home which left the detective and Carmen alone.

Carmen, by order from the owner, had to clear up, clean up, and be done by 2am once the cleaners had left. They were on the second floor finishing their vacuuming of the nice red carpet. Sebastian often wondered how much filth would be pulled from it when they washed the carpet. How many different shades of black and brown would be dumped before clear would come up? Had they ever washed it? The notion that they never did sent a shiver through him which became harder and harder to suppress whenever he thought of it. Disgusting.

Sebastian let out a small yawn as he leaned back in his seat, adjusting his belt and shifting around the pouches containing his handcuffs, flashlight, and gun; a M1911 pistol. Not particularly standard issue, but he preferred it, and with the right string pulled had barely managed to get it OK'd as his sidearm. Of which he was still appreciative. Above all, he preferred not to use it. But there had been times where it had been deemed necessary.

When the shattering of glass struck his ears, his heart rate sped up and the growl in his head began to get louder. His eyes traveled to Carmen who had dropped one of the thick glasses mostly used for soft drinks, causing the thick glass to shatter on the ground. Her eyes were stuck on the man in front of her, mouth slightly agape but no scream coming from her lips as she backed up and pressed herself up against the wall trying to get away from the man with nowhere really to go. The man in front of her was a little older than her, mid to late 20's. He wore a black hoodie and blue jeans with red sneakers. Sebastian had a slight moment of disappointment. Why wear red? Wasn't he trying to be inconspicuous?

Sebastian's fingers slid back from the keys as he watched the man with the knife demand the money in the register before he formed a plan and his heart sped up again, listening to the voice in his head but speaking to himself, quietly. Fourteen steps from his position to the bar, 1.2 to get around the piano. Brace hand on dance floor when shoes slip. He would need about 4 second distraction to get to the man. Slowly as Carmen opened the register to the yelling man, Sebastian pushed himself back in his seat, eyes on the man. He hadn't been seen. Had he not heard the piano? He spoke quietly to himself, glancing down to the little stool beside the piano used for the singers to get up and lie and sit on the piano in their dresses.

"What do you think? Bottle stool or stool bottle?"

When the voice replied he took a deep breath. Don't miss. Don't you dare miss.

His hand gripped the empty wine bottle on the piano and hurled it hard at the man, aiming for the center of his back. If he struck him in the head at that angle, he could likely kill the man. And he didn't want that. But as the bottle hurled through the air and Sebastian began his dash, he leaned down to grab the stool, throwing it as well through the air as he made his b-line for the man. Carmen, seeing the objects coming, ducked down behind the bar, covering her ears. The man screamed at her again but lost all air in his lungs as the thick bottle collided with his shoulder, shattering against the bone in his scrawny shoulder but he didn't falter even as the glass splashed across his upper body. Instead, he turned to his would be attacker and fell back against the bar as the stool collided with his chest. Sebastian had indeed faltered on the dance floor but caught himself on his hands as the stool hit the man.

One second left.

Sebastian pushed hard off his legs for an extra burst of speed and drove his fist deep into the man's stomach. The man dropped the knife, both his hands coming to his stomach, unable to breathe having been struck in the diaphragm. Sebastian's fist rose past the man's face on the way up, striking him on the tip of his jaw with his elbow, fracturing it but not breaking it. The man fell to his knees which had given way under the shock and finally dropped to the ground when the elbow that struck his jaw drove down on top of his head, sending him to the floor in dead weight, unconscious. The whole even had happened so fast that he never had a moment to react.

Sebastian grit his teeth and clenched and unclenched his fists. The voice in his head let out a small huff of disappointment. It had half hoped the man to put up a bigger fight. Sebastian on the other hand was glad it was over quickly. Knife on fist fights never ended well. He leaned down, opening the pouch on the side of his belt and handcuffed the man. As he stood back up, Carmen was just pulling herself up from behind the bar, looking over at the body of the man on the floor.

"Is he dead?"

"Afraid not. Just unconscious. And in for a long recovery I'm afraid."

Sebastian said the end of his sentence as he sat down at the bar.

"Can I use the bar's phone?"

Carmen, lost for words, pulled the dial telephone from out behind the bar. He was a little intrigued. All this fancy stuff and the owner couldn't swing for a better form of communication? He picked up the receiver and began to dial his number, looking to Carmen as he waited for it to ring.

"The man who was in here before with me, what did he drink?"

She stuttered as she tried to speak, the adrenaline still pumping strong in her body.

"S-s-scotch"

"I'll have one of those, please"

Carmen followed orders perfectly when she was up on adrenaline as she moved to make his drink with shaking hands. Maybe he would go home with her after all. As soon as the thought crossed his mind and the growl in his head seemed to laugh he pushed it aside, just waiting for the person on the other line to pick up. The voice was gruff on the other side from years of smoking.

"Hello?"

"Good evening Donald, it's detective Chastity. How did the arrests go?"

The man on the other end laughed for a few moments.

"You were right. They didn't make it half way through the trip back before they began to turn on one another. What can I do for you? I assume you need something"

"Good to hear it Captain. I need you to send an ambulance down to High Red. I have a man here, attempted robbery, with a fractured jaw, possible internal bleeding-"

Carmen put the drink in front of him and he smiled mouthing "Thank you." Her legs began to shake and she braced herself on the bar to keep from falling over.

"-and send a few men to the hospital. Once he wakes up it is imperative someone read him his rights. Understood?"

"I'll send one over right away, Detective. By the way, I was supposed to tell you that you have been put on a new assignment effective immediately"

Sebastian beckoned Carmen closer and he pulled the pen from her breast pocket, writing down the details on his napkin.

"Go ahead"

Sebastian listened to the case, squinting as he wrote down the note before pausing.

"You will have to forgive me captain, did you say Japan?"

He rolled his eyes and wrote down the name, location, handler, and travel arrangements.

"So in one week?"

He underlined his flight number.

"How many dead?"

A small smile stretched on his face as he wrote down the digit.

"Inform them I will be present. Who do we get in return?"

…..

"Will he be useful?"

…..

"Perfect. Thank you Captain"

He set the phone down on its receiver and went for his drink, drinking the scotch in one attempt. When the glass hit the bar, he bit down on his own tongue, letting out a small cough.

"Not a personal preference, Mr. Marlow"

He smiled at the shaking girl and slipped the pen back into her breast pocket.

"Have a good night Carmen. Might see you later this week."

As he stood from his seat to leave, she called out to him

"Hey! What am I supposed to do with him?"

"If he wakes up before the ambulance gets here, hit him in the face"

He pulled his wallet from his breast pocket, setting a one hundred dollar bill on the table.

"For the scotch and the bottle of wine. Keep the change. Get yourself something nice. I would also suggest taking tomorrow off. You could easily get off work due to stress with this."

He winked at her when she smiled before taking his leave, going for his car. He wanted to go home.

"Also fire the bouncer for not locking the door."

When the doors closed behind him, Carmen let out a loud sigh and dropped to her knees behind the bar, taking deep breaths trying to stop herself from shaking. But when she heard the doors a second time, she peered over the bar to see the young Detective walking back across the room towards the piano.

"Forgot my things"

Case 463: -182


	5. Chapter 5

Case 463: -470 hours

It had been two days since the two bodies had been found and Naoto was no closer to making progress than she had been on the first day. Trying to contact Teddie or Yosuke had been surprisingly difficult since their phones were off.

Upon arriving at Junes, Naoto had immediately gone to the manager of the store, Yosuke's father, to inquire as to where he was. Apparently they had both come to work on an earlier shift in order to get on with their weekend together and get as much time to play as they could before work again. She had left with no answers and it was a long way back to the station. She had tried calling several times but their cellphones had been off. Wonderful.

By the time she had made it back to the station, with Kojima still out in the field and her leads nowhere to be found for the next two days, she had decided to make her way home on her scooter. She had arrived home, had a shower, grabbed something to eat, and headed straight to bed.

But that was two days ago. Two days of nothing. Lab reports were taking too long, autopsy was taking it's time, CSI had pulled up nothing, and the woman who found them had just been jogging along when she found them. Nothing she could use. Just like two years ago. It bothered her, sent her stomach into a knot. She was sure she was going to lose sleep over this. Perhaps even develop a kidney stone or something as her body would gradually succumb to the stress.

Naoto sat quietly at her desk, slumped back in her chair using her legs to spin her from side to side on its axis as she stared at her black computer screen. She was bored. More so, she was on edge. The autopsy would hopefully pull something they could use. She prayed poisoning of the two men so that the other world could be ruled out. But when she truly considered her own feelings, it seemed unlikely.

Her eyes glanced from her computer screen to the picture lying face down on her desk and she felt herself instinctively bite down on the inside of her lower lip as she reached to turn it up. She smiled as she looked over the faces of her friends from the picture they took two years ago. Rise, Kanji, Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Teddie, and…

She felt her stomach drop a bit when she looked over the young man's features. That smile of his which creased his face just perfectly. Her eyes skimmed along the silver strands of hair that she had wanted to touch for so long. The smell of the shampoo he used and his particular brand of deodorant. She ran her thumb along his face and down along the curvature of the side of his face and chin.

"Souji…"

She could feel her jaw beginning to hurt and only then did she realize her jaw was clenched tightly and longing was replayed with anger. She thought by now she would be over it. She pushed the photo back down and felt a shiver run through her body from the sting on her face. She reached up to brush it away. She was crying.

She shook her head to clear the fog and dried her eyes on the sleeve of her jacket as she pushed the photo back to its original place and sunk backwards into her chair again, pulling her hat down over her eyes and she returned to rotating in her chair. Never again. She wouldn't be burned again.

When the footsteps registered in her ears it was already too late to react as her office door opened. She lifted the rim of her hat up to see Dojima standing in the doorway. He went to speak but drew silent as he looked on her face, seeing the light shine from tears. And that look in her eyes…

"Are…are you OK?"

She wiped her hands along her cheeks to remove anything that may have been lingering on her pale skin

"Yea. I must have zoned out and my eyes dried up. I'm fine"

Dojima wasn't convinced but he didn't press it.

"CSI and our friend in the morgue want to talk with us. They got something"

Naoto didn't know she could get up that fast as she stood from her chair, her legs pushing it back allowing her to move freely as she followed Dojima down into the basement of the police station. On normal occasions she had found the purpose of a morgue to be rather useless in a town this small. But at other times, the rare times, she found it quite helpful. Everyone needs a place to store the dead.

As they entered the morgue, Naoto buttoned up her coat and Dojima put his on as well, zipping up the front and putting his hands in his pockets. The room had twelve freezers for the bodies, two of which were open with the bodies of both Miles and Nathan McDermott laying on them, a white sheet drawn up to the chest line barely covering up the stitches along the chest and reaching down below the sheet. Naoto still wasn't comfortable around the bodies. She was almost sure she never would be.

The two men that were already in the room both wore white lab coats. The man in his late 20's with glasses and a short black ponytail was from CSI whereas the older man with the frosted tipped spiked black hair was the coroner. They both greeted Dojima and Naoto with a small bow. Naoto looked at the two men, their skin now a light grey blue under the light of the room. She felt herself bite the tip of her tongue.

"Detectives."

The man with the ponytail smiled at them both.

"I'll let my associate here give you the details"

He indicated the coroner who handed Naoto and Dojima a clip board with his findings on them. Naoto flipped through the pages, skimming their contents. Her heart sank into her stomach.

"Inconclusive?"

The man shrugged and indicated the two of them.

"As far as I am concerned, there is nothing wrong with either of them. The father here smoked for at least twenty years but there is no significant damage to suggest that it had anything to do with his death. The son had a bit more alcohol in his blood than he needed but other than that, they both have a clean bill of health."

Dojima looked over the details of the autopsy.

"So you have nothing then?"

The man was a little hesitant in his findings but he looked certain

"The only thing I can come up with is a form of organ failure that I have never seen before; something that affects nothing to give an indication and has no symptoms. And unless we are dealing with a new breed of virus of bacteria, which I doubt, then yes. I have nothing."

Dojima tossed the clip board onto the little silver table between the two bodies and sighed, reaching up to massage the spot between his eyes. This was a shit show. Naoto continued to look over the results but no matter how many lines she read, everything turned up negative.

"Poison?"

"Not a chance. No cell deterioration of any kind. No signs of internal bleeding either in either of them. However, the strange thing is they both died at relatively the same time. Less than an hour apart most likely."

Naoto let the clip board fall from her eyes, resting at her side. Less than an hour apart…

"This is terrible news..."

It was the SCI's turn and he smiled a bit.

"Why do you look so happy?"

Dojima almost barked at him, his patience hanging by a thread at this point.

"Because you are going to love this"

Dojima scowled at the man and Naoto unclipped the report from the clip board and folded it up to add to her report.

The man walked over to the body of Miles, the father, and put his hand hovering over the man's face.

"Miles McDermott. American from Phoenix Arizona"

"We know that"

"But did you know that that's where he's supposed to be?"

Naoto was lost

"Excuse me?"

"I did some digging once I got his ID. Called up the airport who contacted officials in Phoenix. Mr. McDermott here never left Phoenix. He's not supposed to be here. Technically speaking, Mr. McDermott here is supposed to be at home right now getting ready for work in a few hours. His wife reported him missing yesterday."

Dojima took his second to last cigarette from behind his ear, slipping it into his mouth as he chewed the filter.

"That doesn't make any sense"

"I know, right?"

The man had a smile from ear to ear. This was a big joke to him.

"But it gets better. "

Naoto couldn't wait to hear this.

He moved his hand over the body of your younger man.

"Nathan McDermott works for his father. Apparently, they work in textiles together. His father runs the company and Nathan is in charge of quality control and deals with international clients for the company."

The man could barely contain himself, almost laughing as he spoke.

"Nathan here is supposed to be in Russia in his hotel room asleep right now."

The wall that Naoto and Dojima had just crashed into left damages their brains couldn't comprehend. This was all wrong. And even Naoto had to accept that this made even less sense than the previous case. The man put a hand hovering over both of the men's faces.

"Neither of these men, thousands and thousands of miles apart….oceans apart….are supposed to be here. According to passport information from both the Russian and American government offices, both of these men are supposed to be-not here. He is supposed to be in Phoenix Arizona and he is supposed to be in Moscow."

The man's smile slowly faded as he looked at the detective's faces and he cleared his throat.

"Now I don't know who is responsible for this or if this is some kind of big joke or whatever. I personally find it hilarious that this is a reality. On the other hand, this can't really be anything more than a joke. These men did not just fall out of the sky. So how did they get here?"

Naoto felt a bolt of electricity flow through her body at his words. She needed to talk to Teddie. She needed to talk to Teddie right now. She shivered and drew her arms closer together against her body, putting her clip board on the little silver table on top of Dojima's.

"I have to follow a lead, Dojima-san"

"Yea…ok… I'll come with you"

Naoto cleared her throat.

"If it is alright with you Dojima-san, I would prefer to do this on my own"

"I asked you to keep me in the loop"

"And I promise I will. As soon as I find anything"

Dojima was obviously not happy with that answer. He wanted to go with her. They were a team. Or at least he liked to think of them as a team. He needed a cigarette but he just stared at her, reading her facial expressions as they came and went, trying to decipher what she was thinking.

"You call me the moment you find something. Understand?"

"I will Dojima-san"

He sighed defeated

"I'm trusting you on this Naoto. Don't make me regret it"

She nodded her head and turned to leave, already regretting it herself.

As she stepped from the police station and pulled out her small cellphone and punched in the numbers she had punched in so many times before. It rang. The phone was back on.

"Pick up…pick up"

The phone rang twice, then three times, then four, then five. Then on what she knew was the final ring, the phone clicked and there was a sound of rustling before-

"Hellooooooooo?"

She breathed a sigh of relief. He had answered his phone.

"Teddie? This is Detective Shirogane"

"Hi Nao-chan!"

She couldn't help but let her small smile crease her face and she bit her lip trying to stop herself from smiling. It was hard not to smile around Teddie. It was what he was good at. And what was worse is he loved pointing out when he did it.

"I have already requested you stop calling me that Teddie. Yet you do it anyway"

"But you're smiling about it"

He got her despite her efforts

"I need your help Teddie"

"Nao-chan is coming to me for help? Sir Teddie is always willing to help a lady in distress"

"Could you add Yosuke to the call as well?"

"Sure thing"

There was a small beep and a click of numbers on Teddie's end before he yelled out

"Yosuke! Pick up your phone!"

She could just imagine him yelling in the middle of Junes disrupting the customers.

After a moment the phone clicked and Yosuke's voice came over the speaker.

"Stop yelling you idiot. I would have answered anyway"

"Hanamura-san"

"Is that you Naoto-kun?"

"Indeed. I need yours and Teddies help with a case I'm on"

"Oh…does it have anything to do with the bodies that were found?"

Naoto was a little surprised he knew, but remembered the word traveling quickly thing.

"It does. And I would be most appreciative if you could keep this quiet from everyone"

"These pretty lips are sealed Nao-chan"

"Sure thing Naoto. What do you need?"

"I need Teddie and you to go with me into in TV. I need to know if Teddie can smell anything on the other side. If he can smell if anyone has been there recently"

Youske choked on whatever he was drinking at the moment. It probably also came out his nose

"Hold-"

He coughed a few times

"Hold on. You think that the shadows are involved?"

"I do not know as of yet"

There was a silence on the other end as no doubt Teddie and Yosuke traded glances.

"We take our break in an hour. Is that ok with you Naoto-kun?"

"It is. I'll make my way over there now. One would suppose something to eat in the meantime is in order."

"We will see you in an hour then"

"Bye Nao-chan!"

"Farewell you two"

When she hung up the phone she let out a long sigh of relief. Good. This was good. A first step. Once they traveled to the other side, she could decide their next move and help to prove a theory wrong. At least, she hoped she could prove it wrong.

By the time Naoto got to the Junes food court she was already starving. Having overslept that morning, she had deemed it necessary to skip breakfast in order to get to work. Famished and yet short on time, she had decided to just get a small green salad from one of the vendors. Her eyes had almost immediately caught the spot where they had all gone to meet during the previous investigation and she sat at her usual spot to eat.

Her mind couldn't help but wonder as she sat there, thinking of the previous investigation with all her friends and their respectable places. She could almost see it as clear as day. She sighed. They should hang out more. But her job kept her so busy. Especially now. She couldn't expect to hang out with anyone any time soon. Rise was working in show business, Kanji was too busy working at his mother's shop making dolls, Teddie and Yosuke worked five and two with Junes, Chie was always off patrolling with the Inaba police and rarely came around the office, and Yukiko was working at the Inn with her family. But… she was certain that she and Chie always found time for one another. And then there was him…

She gripped her plastic fork tightly in her hand as anger swept into her chest. It was hard enough to breathe with her bindings on, but the anger inside made it worse. She was not just angry at him, but angry at herself. Angry for trying at something she failed so miserably at. Or was she angry she was still angry at him? Or herself? She felt herself give up a little inside and she buried the anger inside of her, trying to smother it as she ate. She didn't want to break her plastic fork.

No call, no email, no letter…nothing.

"Nao-chan!"

The call made her tighten a bit inside and she raised her hat a little, smiling ever so slightly as the blond boy rushed up to her with a big smile on his face. Teddie. Always full of energy. She stood up from her spot and couldn't stifle her blush as he practically jumped onto her, wrapping his arms tightly around her in a warm embrace.

The boy almost hadn't aged a day. His thick blond hair had grown out a bit more though and looked a little fuller then last she remembered. But his skin, eyes, lips, hands…everything about him was almost unchanged. As though he was frozen in time. She cleared her throat and awkwardly brought her arms around him, patting his back not quite sure what to do.

"Hey Teddie"

"Hey Naoto-kun"

She was a little more relieved to see Yosuke as he approached; grabbing Teddie by the back of his white work shirt and pulling him back. They both had on their orange standard issue Junes aprons, still technically on duty.

Yosuke kept his hair the same over the last two years, always trying and dressing to impress whatever woman seemed to show him any interest. He had lost weight since last she had seen him. And he had replaced his headphones. They were white now instead of orange but still technically the same brand. They didn't suit him and he probably knew it. Judging by the scratches on them, he was looking for a reason to break them and replace them.

He reached a hand out and she took it firmly in her black gloved hand, shaking it before they all took a seat. Teddie had to sit on his hands to contain himself and his excitement. Naoto kept eating for a few minutes before the bad thought crept into her mind and before she could stop herself, she spoke out.

"Hanamura-san, are you ever in your off hours contacted by so-"

She caught herself and bit down hard to shut her mouth. This wasn't ending well for her. She was on a case and all she could do was reminisce. She looked down at her salad, dropping her fork, no longer hungry. But Yosuke was on top of the question.

"Angry?"

She nodded her head hesitantly, not normally one to open up to anyone, but Yosuke had been his best friend, and her hope outweighed her professionalism.

"Swallow it"

That was a no…he hadn't contacted him either.

She cleared her throat, aiming to clear the air.

"I need to go to the other world for just for a few minutes. Would you happen to have the time? I need to prove a hypothesis right or wrong."

Yosuke wouldn't have shown it, but he felt the same way. Angry. But he had obviously had a much easier time with it than Naoto. He was angry, but he had decided to move on. And work and Teddie kept him busy enough as it was. Teddie and he would be moving out soon to their own place. He didn't have time for games. If this were a video game, he would have demanded a full refund it was so lame.

"We have time Nao-chan"

"Dude, don't volunteer me. But yea, I guess we have time. But why do you need the both of us?"

Naoto snapped the lid back onto her salad and pushed it from her.

"I need Teddie's nose to see if he can smell if anyone has been there recently. That will help me determine whether or not there is a culprit using the TV to kill his victims"

Although, at this point, she was certain there was, but the form of transportation was ridiculous. Thousands of miles apart, one dumping ground? Could that be it? Could it be that if anyone ever died inside the other world that all bodies came to Inaba? What a horrible thought.

Teddie jumped from his seat

"Let's goooooo!"

Naoto and Yosuke glanced around at the customers staring at them. Naoto had the advantage of pulling her hat over her eyes. Yosuke had a lesser advantage and just had to put up with it, unable to do anything if he wanted to. But he seemed more relaxed with it. Perhaps years of dealing with Teddie on a day to day basis had dulled down his sense of embarrassment. They both stood from their seats and followed behind the almost marching Teddie as he walked until they reached the electronics department.

TV's had advanced in the last two years. Obviously enough for technology to advance with the times even in a place like Inaba. The three of them stood waiting in front of the largest of the big screen TVs, waiting for the people to clear out or at least calm down before they made their move. She cleared her throat as she stared at the screen.

"In and out, ok?"

"Got it Nao-chan"

When the crowd died down, she approached the television, reaching her hand out and letting her hand sink into the screen. The cold watery light gripped around her fingers and she moved in, letting the cool water glass fold around her body as she left her world behind and entered a shadow world.

Case 463: -467 hours


	6. Chapter 6

Case 463: -467 hours

Why did they always fall? Why was it that they fell to begin with? Why couldn't they walk out onto? And what did they always fall from? Why was it every time they came to this world, they always fell from some unseen television or portal and yet when they wanted to leave, they simply left through the stack of TV's Teddie had created? She could have spent a lifetime trying to figure out the inner workings of this world and never come up with any solid answers.

Naoto landed a little harder than usual and bent her knees, rolling with the force and over one shoulder. As the finished her summersault she planted her hands on the ground to prevent herself from face planting. Yosuke was not as lucky as he fell forward landing on his chest with Teddie quickly in tow landing on top of him. Kinetic energy. As she stood up, she brushed off her knees and pulled back on her gloves, taking in her surroundings all too familiar.

Her eyes first gazed upon the floor around them, the red and blue checkered floor a grizzly reminder of when she had first been welcomed into the TV world during the first investigation. She remembered for a moment as a dash of fear briefly rushed through her in almost a sense of nostalgia that even though scared her, made her smile just a little. Those timed had been phenomenal. She would be foolish to deny that she missed them.

Her eyes grazed over the floor to the white and black illusional illustration in the center of the floor. As far as she knew, this spot was the center of the TV world. Although not quite the heart of hell people had written about in novels, it was as much an illusion of peace as one could muster with its drawings of figures falling into the white and black circles on the floor. Their meeting place during the previous case. Nothing changing and everything the same as she remembered. The figures in white surroundings the bull's-eye circles of white and black could have been people falling into this world, but she always considered them to be those lying dead upon the ground.

Her eyes moved up to the stack of TVs in the center of the platform they stood on. The Three tube TVs, slightly crooked stacked on top of one another, buzzed and hummed quietly in the silence of this world. She approached the stack and ran her gloved finger along the top of the middle TV. No dust. Interesting. Several theories rushed through her head as to why there was no dust, but she pushed them away remembering that's not why she was there in the first place.

She looked around now, squinting through the dense yellow fog. She hadn't brought her glasses. In hind sight, it had been a foolish mistake. Why bother coming to the TV world and not bring the glasses Teddie had made. She still had them. They were sitting in the drawer of her bedside table. Then again, she had been rushed to get out of the house that morning and forgot to grab them. She didn't expect to see Teddie today either. She quietly cursed herself, remembering she had told herself to remember to bring her glasses to work. Perhaps a string on the finger would have been a better idea.

Pulling back the side of her coat, she reached into her side holster and pulled out her revolver. She pulled on the ejector rod and with a flick of the wrist, the cylinder slid out of place. She checked the chambers. Six shots. Good. She snapped her wrist again for the cylinder to snap back to its position. She then pulled back on the hammer to its first lock and ran it the cylinder along her forearm to spin it before releasing the hammer to its resting position. She was locked and loaded. She took several steps back, revolver in hand. Anything could happen in this world. She wasn't about to take any chances no matter how long or little they spent here.

"Teddie"

"I'm on it, Nao-chan"

The young boy lifted his nose to the air and folded his arms behind his back as he meandered about on the platform. Yosuke moved closer to Naoto for protection, hands in his pockets. If things got bad, the three of them would be able to defend themselves. And even though they had never once been attacked on this platform, none of them were willing to take that chance.

"I think…I think I got something"

Naoto looked down at the ground, her revolver suddenly very heavy. She swallowed hard before speaking.

"Are you certain, Teddie?"

"Beary sure. It's coming fr-"

Teddie suddenly stopped in his tracks, a look of confusion crossing his face.

"That's funny"

Naoto and Yosuke approached him; she pulled back on the hammer of her revolver to its second lock. A simple squeeze was all it took now.

"What is it, Ted?"

"It's gone"

"Dude, what do you mean it's gone?"

"Exactly what I just said, Yosuke. It was there and now it's gone. Beary strange"

Naoto took a quick look around. Still clear.

"Would you mind trying again, Teddie? I need to be absolutely certain."

"You got it, Nao-chan!"

Teddie began his meander again as he moved from one side of the platform to the other and back again. Side to side and up and down he moved slowly, taking his time and Naoto was pleased that he was. Maybe she was wrong. Maybe she was just over reacting and this whole thing was just a coincidence. And maybe...maybe if she told herself that enough she would believe it. Yosuke looked at his watch and at Naoto. He had 10 minutes left in his break. And he had been so hoping to close his eyes for 10 minutes or so. He hadn't even eaten his lunch yet. His stomach gurgled.

"Thank you Teddie. You can stop now"

Teddie approached the two of them a little disappointed in himself, his big blue eyes looking down at the ground in shame.

"I'm sorry guys. I tried my best. There was defiantly something there a moment ago. But it's gone now."

"That's quite alright, Teddie. Can you smell anything else?"

"If something **was** here, it's gone now. Everything is so far away now. I can't tell if something is there or I'm imagining it"

Naoto sighed and slowly released the hammer of her revolver, letting it come to rest in its original position. She felt her hand grip tightly on the grip of her revolver, her hand almost shaking in anger but she took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to calm herself. She had nothing to work with.

"Damn it"

The boys were a little surprised. They weren't certain, but this might have been the first time they had ever heard Naoto curse. Yosuke spoke only after she had slipped her revolver back into its holster.

"Naoto, you'll do fine"

Naoto said nothing till she walked back to the stack of TVs. She was angry she had nothing. But then came a small glimmer of hope inside her which flourished inside her mind. It wasn't the TV's. It wasn't this shadow world that was at fault. That meant there was proof that someone had done this using normal conventional means and she would find physical tangible evidence to prove who had done it. This world had nothing to do with it.

She looked down with a small smile, feeling a little more relaxed.

"I believe you, Yosuke. I think I'll do just fine. Thank you Teddie."

As the boys approached to go back home, Naoto reached a gloved hand out to ruffle Teddie's hair. He smiled at her and she smiled back.

"You have aided me in more ways than you know. I can say with almost certainty now that this world isn't involved in the murders.

"Well Nao-chan, if you need help in the future, I would be happy to help you "

"I appreciate it Teddie. I only hope it never comes to that"

The three of them made their way back into the TVs, leaving the foggy quiet world behind them. Naoto felt tired as she left from that world back into the real world, always feeling drained after being in there for only a little while.

In the Junes electronics department, Teddie let out a long yawn and stretched his arms out along with his back.

"Whelp, this little guy is gonna go take a nap in the change room. Give me a call if you need me Youske"

"Hold on! I can't keep covering for you"

Naoto spoke up before they returned to their shift

"One moment before you two return to your business."

They stopped to look at her

"Would you two like to…go see a film later? Or perhaps…something?"

Yosuke and Teddie traded glances

"Uh...sure Naoto. We're pretty much free every weekend if you are"

She felt a small smile grow on her face and she nodded her head maybe once or twice more than she needed to.

"It's just that I….never mind. This weekend then?"

The boys nodded before saying their goodbyes and returning to their work leaving Naoto standing there in the department in front of all those TVs. Maybe things weren't as bad as they looked after all.

Then her cellphone beeped.

She pulled it from her pocket. Four missed calls from Dojima and five text messages. Before she could even read them her phone rang and she immediately picked it up.

"Hello? Detective Shirogane"

"Naoto? Where the hell have you been? I have been trying to contact you for the last 15 minutes"

He sounded mad. What happened?

"I-I'm sorry, Sir. I guess I didn't have my cellphone turned on"

"Well now that it's back on, when convenient, get down to the flood plains. We have another body"

Despite the understanding of the sarcasm that dripped from his words, a wave of cold ran through her body and into her face making it feel numb.

"You still there Naoto"

"Y-Yes, Sir. I'm on my way now."

She had never closed her phone harder than she did at that exact moment as she ran from the store to get onto her scooter. A third body? She prayed there was a little more evidence this time around.

As she drove, she thought back to the other world. There had been nothing there. Not even the sound of a shadow let alone a disturbance. If Teddie was useless was she to go to Rise? She didn't even know how to contact her at this point. She had no numbers, no locations, no clue who to contact first. And even if she could get ahold of her, it wasn't as though she could ask her to get on a plane and come right away. And even **if **Rise decided to come to Inaba, even **if** she could get ahold of her, Rise couldn't help without information on who she was looking for. And Naoto didn't even know where to start.

She bit down on her lip as she drove, trying to get there quickly as well as obey the traffic laws. This was all wrong…

The flood plains of Inaba were a road she and the other of the original case had traveled quite often on the way to and from school. She had hung out with her friends at the little picnic table tucked away along the road. She remembered running along it in the middle of the night, screaming into her phone when Nanako, Dojima's daughter, had been kidnapped by the potential culprit of the first case. And now the memories of that place were to be sullied and muddied by the presence of a body.

She wondered if these events would cause people to leave the city; to move out and seek another place to live. Away from all the death that seemed to plague the town regardless of its intervals. She could imagine Inaba being turned in a graveyard from bodies just showing up and she clenched her jaw so tight it hurt. No. Not this city. Not my city.

When she finally arrived on the scene and took her helmet off, the first thing she noticed was the handful of police officers taping off the area and trying to shoo away the few pedestrians that remained. She looked high into the air to see the victim and her mouth filled with bile as she tried not to throw up as a wave of reality came crashing down on her. She turned, coughing into the back of her glove before looking back up.

A woman in a white dress hung from the street light, hanging backwards looking like she broke her back in impact as though she fell from the sky. If she had fallen in the first place. For a moment, Naoto forgot all about what the reality of this situation was and took a moment to ponder what happened when people died in the other world and how they transported to this one. But then her eyes focused again when Dojima came walking up to her.

"I-I apologize for my tardiness Dojima-san. It won't happen again"

"Later Naoto. We need to get to work"

"O-of course, Sir"

He reached into his jacket pocket and handed her her little red notebook. She had left it at the office on her desk. She took it from him thankfully and flipped to the second to last page, drawing a line along the middle of the page making a new piece of information as she followed quickly behind him.

When she stood at the bottom of the street light and looked up, it was almost a dreamlike state as her eyes took in the body. She made a point. African American. She wore a ring on her right hand and a watch on the left. She couldn't see her neck for a pendant or necklace. She would have to wait for the body to be taken down.

She took a few laps around the light pole, checking to see for fingerprints or smudges or dirt to eliminate the impossibility of someone trying to climb the pole with this woman in their arms. She looked at the ground for shoeprints and tracks in the dirt or grass. Nothing.

"Any ideas, Shirogane?"

She turned to look at him, cigarette hanging from his mouth. His last one. What a time to stop smoking. She looked back up to the body before she spoke, lying to herself and him.

"I'm afraid not Dojima-san."

She crouched down, trying at least to put on an act for him.

"No footprints, no fingerprints, no loose dirt. No tracks for machinery."

He nodded his head having the same idea about a machine being used to put the woman's body up there.

"It's not like someone lifted her up there? Climb a pole that size with a body on top of you? Nothing moved like that and doesn't leave a trace"

A voice called out from the few police officers.

"Detective Dojima!"

He ignored it, busy with his partner.

"Think someone really climbed it?"

"Without leaving a residual trace of hands of feet on the pole it seems unlikely. Even if they covered their shoes and hands with plastic it would have made the climb that much more difficult"

The voice called again.

"Detective Dojima"

He didn't hear it again, running through theories with her, lost in his mind.

"No prints, no tracks. She didn't just fall out of the sky. How did she get up there?"

"Detective Dojima!"

He turned, angry and practically ripped the cigarette from his mouth

"WHAT?!"

The officer turned and pointed out towards the field behind the plain, towards the transmission towers just off in the distance. And there, barely visible to the naked eye, three large lumps dangled from the wires. His breath caught in his throat and his cigarette, half smoked fell from his mouth to the floor as he slowly moved forward.

"No…"

Naoto could see them now as she followed in his tracks, lost for words at the sight and she felt her heart skip a beat.

Three more bodies.

She was convinced. The other world was involved. Shadows were involved. And Inaba was the target dumping ground. She felt her legs get weak as she stared awestruck at the poor souls that hung from the wires of the towers.

This was the worst it had ever been. And even among all this, all the realities that were now apparent, even with the bodies that were piling up, and even with the horrible future she knew she would be facing, at that exact moment, she knew that they had nothing. But worse, she knew they would get nothing. Teddie had felt it. He had felt it for just a moment in the other world.

He had felt a presence. The presence of a life being taken and the body being moved from the TV world to the real world. His nose had been right. But unlike before, she was pretty much on her own for this case. Before she had friends to help her. friends wielding personas and special skill sets. She did't know if she could do this so ill prepared for a murderer of this caliber. Six bodies in less than one week. How many more were to come? Would it ever stop?

Her only wish was that fortune would smile on her.

Case 463: -464 hours


	7. Chapter 7

Case 463: -84 hours

Detective Naoto Shirogane sat quietly at her desk, her head resting on her arm, unable to keep herself awake any longer. Her pen, long since retired, still rested between her fingers with the stack of paperwork in front of her. She felt like she hadn't slept in days and couldn't be bothered to move. This time however, she had locked her office door before letting her blinds down to keep herself in the quiet. She told herself 'just a few minutes. Just a few minutes to close your eyes.' but that was almost two hours ago.

The bodies had stopped appearing after that day a few weeks ago. It had all happened in such a strong burst that the police department was glad they had stopped in order to get some decent investigation time in. But why had they stopped? If the murderer was so ready and willing to keep killing, then why just stop? Were they done? Was that all there was to it?

Naoto doubted that she had seen the last of their killer's handiwork. Someone with those powers didn't just stop once they had had a taste. They always came back for more. It was a frightening though that more bodies would show up eventually hanging from some sort of electronic equipment throughout the town.

When she felt a small snore escape her body her eyes opened and she leaned up to look down at the stack of papers before she continued with her report. A few more lines and she would close her eyes again. She looked over her report so far.

Victims so far: Miles and Nathan McDermott, Alexia Tal, Jacob Crane, Donovan Alister, and Sara Diegg.

Six victims.

Cod: Unknown

She felt herself nod off again and she leaned forward onto her hand to prop her head up as she wrote down her findings. No fingerprints, no signs of struggle, and no theft of personal belongings. Each victim carried light bruising on knees and elbows but not enough to determine CoD. Damage suggests fall from height of more than five feet. Autopsy report inconclusive. CSI report shows each victim was killed within hours of one another and Identification indicates victims were in different parts of the world before arriving in Inaba without traceable travel arrangements.

How long had she been at this? Two weeks? Seventeen days? It felt like forever. She sighed and put her pen down, reaching over for her coffee mug placed just within reach off to the side of her desk. She drew it to her mouth. Empty. Damn it.

She crossed her arms and slumped back in her chair, pulling her hat down over her eyes. Just a little longer. Maybe she could sleep the rest of the day and get through the night and come back tomorrow fresh for another start. No. No that wasn't who she was. That wasn't what she was here for.

She leaned forward in her chair and shook her head to clear the sleep, pulling her ponytail out from under her hat and pulling the elastic off of it to let it loose. Taking her hat off she shook out her hair letting her dark blue locks come down to her shoulders. Much better. She spread out her workload in front of her, dividing up her paperwork into separate piles for each victim, separating sheets she would need for photo copying when she went back out into the office. She moved the mouse of her computer the wake it up to the world map in front of her she had opened on a paint program. She circled the locations the victims were from in red. Miles McDermott, Phoenix. Nathan McDermott, Moscow. Alexia Tal, Washington. Jacob Crane, Montreal. Donovan Alister, London. Sara Diegg, Brazil.

Her eyes moved from spot to spot trying to see some kind of pattern. Who was killing these people? It seemed so random for there to be any connection these people shared. What was the murder doing? Showing off? She checked their work records once more.

Each victim had worked at a rather respectable job in one form of business from quality control for this major company to Jr. Vice president of another. Why these people? They worked for separate businesses across thousands of miles with no connection to one another. What made them so special? She looked down at the photos of the victims by their autopsy photographs taking in their features in the pale light the photos were taken in.

"Why are you all so special to someone? Why are you important enough to kill?"

The knock at her office door snapped her out of her stupor and she panicked when the knob was tried. But she had a moment to spare when she remembered it was locked.

"One moment please"

She pulled her hair behind her head and tied her ponytail up again before slipping her hat on and tucking it up underneath. She took a deep breath before she unlocked the door and opened it to one of the older officers. He was taller than her and she had to strain her neck slightly to look up to him.

"Detective Shirogane, the chief would like to speak to you"

She was a little slow on his words but she nodded eventually.

"Very well. Thank you"

The man took another moment to look down on her and eventually turned to walk off. Naoto cleared her throat and closed her door behind her. She would photocopy her papers on the way back from the chief's office. At least whatever he had to say would be over soon and she could get on with her investigation. She made a mental note to go back with Teddie and Yosu-

The realization made her groan out loud. She was supposed to go see a movie with them two weeks ago. It was no wonder she wasn't in the loop anymore. She had no time to enjoy her friends with this case. Damn it. She made another mental note to call them and apologize for standing them up. But she smiled on the inside knowing they would understand and forgive her if they hadn't already. She had great friends.

When she reached the chiefs office she knocked on the heavy wood of the door. He was on the phone with the door open but she hadn't caught the end of his conversation being too busy thinking of other things. He leaned forward in his chair to put his phone down.

"Yea…yea he's here now. Ok. Ok I'll call you back…..thank you, Sir"

Naoto knew there were only a few people the chief called sir. Whoever it was made the chief physically uncomfortable. She could tell from the fake grin he put on his face. Bad news was coming.

"Detective Shirogane. Please, have a seat. And close the door would you?"

She entered the office, closing the door behind her before sitting in the chair in front of his desk. He stood from his seat and made his way over to her, sitting on the corner of his desk in front of her. She noted the stacks of papers on his desk and a large manila envelope before looking up to him. The smile was gone. This couldn't be good.

"Now detective, I want you to know right away that I tried to fight for you, ok?"

Her heart rate sped up, already assuming the worse.

"You aren't thinking of taking me off the case, are you?"

She moved to stand up but sat back down when he raised his hand to her.

"No no. No no no. You are still on the case. You are our best mind, detective."

"Then what's wrong?"

He was quiet for a moment, sucking on his teeth.

"I want to start this off by saying you are a brilliant police officer detective. You really are. Why you bother to stick around this place is beyond someone like me. A mind like yours deserves to be freelance like the rest of your family"

She was a little shocked he knew, and he could tell she was.

"Oh yes, I looked up on your family history. Shirogane lineage. A reputation to uphold, am I right?"

She nodded her head slightly as he smiled slightly before his face relaxed again.

"So I want you to know that I think you are one of the best if not the best we have ever had from a detective and a police officer. You are professional and astounding in your work. It never really ceases to impress me. "

"If I may speak freely, Sir?"

"Go ahead"

"If you would please get to the point"

The chief stared at her for a moment before clearing his throat and standing from his spot and making his way back behind his desk.

"I tried to fight them Detective. I really did. I explained to them your skills and your accomplishments to them but they would not listen. They insisted. "

She was more confused now than concerned.

"Am I being fired?"

The chief sucked on his teeth again.

"No. I am trying to convey something."

This was really burning her time up and began to aggravate her.

"I told them you don't work well with others other than Detective Dojima and they said that you will need to learn fast."

"Detective Dojima…"

"Won't be working on this case with you anymore"

She felt a little angry inside. She never really thought of Dojima as a partner….well maybe she did, but now he was being taken off the case?

"I told you detective. I tried to tell them"

"Well tell them again"

The chief was quiet for a moment before he leaned back in his chair.

"Detective, my superiors are having nightmares over their superiors coming down on them. Have you heard of the phrase 'Shit rolls downhill?' Well someone at the top was in a very long meeting with someone that I have never even heard existed until a few days ago. Then they came down on their subordinate and then they came down all the way down to me"

She bit down hard on her tongue.

"Go on…"

"We are bringing in a detective from the west to help you with the case"

"…another detective?"

"Yes"

He might as well have just punched her in the face. She didn't like working with others on official police business. It had been hard enough to involve Teddie and Yosuke in it and it had been even worse two years ago in the original case. But they were already on the case themselves. It was a different situation back then. More complicated. This was just ridiculous.

"I tried to fight for you detective. I really did. You are a very bright young man and you always get the job done."

She stood from her seat

"I respectfully refuse, Sir. I am perfectly capable of solving this case with the aid of Detective Dojima"

He understood why she was angry and tried to calm her down.

"This isn't about your capability, Shirogane. I understand how capable you are. You are a fine detective. You would have made your parents proud."

At the mention of her parents she slowly took her seat again, trying to control her emotions. He was a superior to her. She had orders to follow. She would have to learn to play well with others. She was quiet as she spoke, tilting her hat down over her eyes.

"Who are they?"

The chief opened the manila folder and read his name out.

"Sebastian Chastity."

She found it an odd name, almost made up. But she didn't know what to expect from those in the west.

"20 years old, graduated from university two years ago with honors in criminology. Apparently he was bumped ahead in his academic career several times. Graduated with a 4.1 GPA."

Naoto understood the grade point average only went up to 4.0 in the west. Perhaps he answered bonus questions correctly a well.

"...and his record is…impressive to say the least."

Naoto could taste venom in her mouth, wanting to spit but she swallowed hard instead.

The chief folded the file up and slid it across his desk towards her. She just stared at it, chewing at her tongue.

"He arrives in three days via train. I want you there to pick him up and take him to where he is staying. Get him settled."

She didn't look up as she spoke.

"And where will he be staying?"

"We will be giving him residence at one of our own officers' house. My superiors offered a trade so we are sending one of our officers in Detective Chastitie's place. It's not very appropriate if you ask me, but Detective Chastity, according to my superiors, was more than happy with it. Our man heads out tomorrow."

"I don't like this"

"Neither do I, detective. I'm not asking you to like it though. I'm asking you to do it. He will arrive, you will solve the case together quickly, and he will be gone. And you can get back to whatever it is that you do."

She was quiet for a few moments

"….when?"

"4:15pm. Train station"

Eventually she reached for the envelope and opened it up to the three sheets of paper inside. There was no photograph.

"There is no photograph."

"The damn thing won't come up on the e-mail's or the fax. Whatever program was used to send the picture won't send it through properly. It just keeps coming up in this blurry image."

"So…you expect me to walk up to strangers and figure out who this detective is at random?"

The chief shook his head.

"I expect you to do whatever it is that you do to get this man to his place of residence and get him to work the next day to solve this case. I don't want him here anymore than you do."

She sighed and closed the folder before standing up.

"Will that be all, Sir?"

"It will detective."

She bowed her head slightly and turned to leave his office.

"And detective"

She turned to look at him.

"Please try to play nice"

"I'm afraid I can offer no promises, Sir"

She closed the door behind her and made her way back to her office. On her way back, her eyes met with Dojima's as he refilled his coffee mug. He nodded to her. He either didn't know or wasn't going to show his disappointment. The only person she was ok with working alongside was now out of the picture.

When she returned to her office she closed her door behind her, locking it again. She set the file down on the desk and took a moment to breathe deep before she grabbed her hat and threw it hard against the wall, it plopped on the ground. She wanted to break something but she liked her things. She wanted to scream but instead drew the fleshy part of her palm into her mouth and bit down on it till it hurt. She wasn't a child. She could handle this with Dojima. She could handle this alone if she needed.

No. She knew that wasn't true. She let her hand fall from her mouth and went to go pick her hat up, knocking it against her leg before putting it back on her head. Disgruntled and angry, she flopped down in her chair, pulling herself back up to her desk. She couldn't use this detective. This wasn't a normal means of work. If someone with her powers was involved it would take someone like her to help. And she was certain he couldn't help with that.

She leaned forward in her seat and held her head in her hands for a few minutes until she finally opened the folder to read over his work history, training, education, and skill set, and make an attempt at profiling the man.

Name: Sebastian Chastity

Age: 20

Hair: black

Eyes: Green

She looked over his medical records. He had a substantial buildup of scar tissue on his spine from a car accident on a case three years prior. It had taken him a year and a half to get back on his feet which was quite a short amount of time to be up and back on the force after an accident which almost severed his spine. He was lucky. At the same time, the scar tissue was now intertwined around his spinal column offering more protection from spinal injuries. She wondered if he would have to have surgery later in life to prevent it from damaging his skeleton.

His body of work was extensive for someone his age. As she flipped through the pages of his dossier, she found herself quickly taking interest in this detective. Half of Canada, one third America, England, Rome, Switzerland, New-Zealand, China, Korea, and West Africa were only a few of the places he had been dispatched to for a case. She actually felt kind of envious of his work.

She set the pages back down in the folder and closed it, taking a moment to stare at it in thought before her eyes grazed across her computer. She moved the mouse to wake it up, opening a search engine and typing his name into the box. Several of his case files popped up, but the images that had been taken of him were all blurry. Even when she opened the image only section, she was greeted by only blurry images of a young man.

She tapped her fingers along the wood of her desk, staring at one of the images.

"We shall see, detective…"

Case 463 : - 81 hours


	8. Chapter 8

_Case 463: -18 minutes_

Naoto Shirogane sat quietly in the vehicle outside the train station, waiting for the train to arrive before she decided to get up. She usually didn't drive a vehicle of this size, but luckily she had obtained her license earlier that year for a car. On normal circumstances she would have just taken her scooter, but she needed to cart someone else around, only had one helmet, and knew that her passenger would have luggage. She looked into the rear view mirror, looking at the case file thus far sitting on the back seat tied up in a thick brown folder. He had requested several copies of the report thus far. It seemed he wanted to get started as soon as he could.

"Take my car." He had said. "Just bring it back in one piece." Dojima had taken being removed from the case quite well other than the rage he had displayed in her office with the door closed. He felt like he was being pushed aside as though all his years of work were for nothing. He was angry he had just been taken off without a second thought by his superiors. She was on his side. It seemed ridiculous that they would bring in another detective from not only another precinct, but another country all together. At the same time, he wanted to help her in any way he could.

She sighed, growing impatient as she looked at her watch. Fourteen minutes. She hoped not to be disappointed with the detective. First impressions, she understood, were everything. She looked down at herself and adjusted the rear view mirror to get a look at her face. She looked exhausted, small amounts of purple had begun to form along the insides of her eyes. If she didn't get sleep soon, they would eventually grow to look like costume paint.

More and more people began to arrive at the train station, both those carrying bags to get on and those having come to pick up friends and family. She supposed it was about that time and she climbed from the car, locking it behind her before making her way into the terminal. But on the way she stopped and took in the building. Or rather, she took in the area around it.

This was the spot. Just over two years ago she had been in this exact spot to see Souji off with her friends. She remembered her words. "Maybe I should stick to my original plan and take the train with you Senpai…" She felt her shoulders slump. She hadn't been here for a long time. And when she really thought about it, which she often tried not to, she would remember why. She was willing to leave everything behind for him. She slid her hands into her pockets and ignored Nanako's crying in her head, Teddie close behind in tears, Rise and Chie tearing up, and what it felt like to swallow the lump in her throat as she had run alongside the train to see him for just a little longer before he vanished from sight on that train, and walked into the terminal, taking her place on the far side of one of the vending machines.

She could see the train. She straightened her jacket and brushed off her legs from any dirt that may have been on her slacks. She adjusted her hat and ensured her ponytail was tucked up underneath. It was a disguise she was proud of. And although she was still learning, and doing quite well at, to be herself, she was still learning and would keep the disguise until she had accepted herself and knew others…who was she trying to impress?

As the train pulled up to the station and people began to walk off, she was slightly surprised at the amount of people. She hadn't read anything on it, but she was certain that not that many people got off the train at this point. She wondered how many knew of the incidents as of late. The detectives' photos had all been blurry on the internet, so she would have to decide who the man she was looking for was. Her eyes skimmed over several people who stepped off the train.

*A detective

* Almost fresh off a plane with a time change of over ten hours from his place of residence to her own

*He would be looking as though he was traveling and most likely staying for a while.

Professional looking, tired, and carrying luggage. She eyed a man getting off the train, looking a little grungy and exhausted. He seemed to fit quite well. What did she have to lose? She had half expected more from the detective, should this have been him. She approached the tired man, clearing her throat before she spoke. "Sebastian Chastity?" She did her best with the punctuation and emphasis on certain words in English as she spoke.

"Are you detective Chastity?"

The man stared at her blankly, responding in Japanese.

"Excuse me?"

"I apologize. I am looking for someone. Are you Sebastian Chastity?"

"No. I am not"

"I apologize, Sir."

The man rudely waved her off as he rushed from the terminal, obviously having a place to be. She turned to watch him leave. Nice watch.

"Detective! Detective Shirogane?"

She turned to look at the man calling her name, a little surprised by his appearance. He wore a black dress shirt with a black blazer buttoned up. The shirt was lightly creased having been ironed the night or day before. The jacket looked expensive as well. She eyed his dark blue tie, noticing the little gold chain that wrapped around the middle of it, pinned through the center. It was a bit of an unnecessary aesthetic feature, but she had her white bow. So it wasn't as though she could have complained if she wanted to. His black slacks hugged him firmly to give a general outline of how his body was formed underneath. She eyes his black hair of a medium length, tell trimmed and of a good shape, his hair in that middle section between too short and too long. The right length. She noticed his eyes. They really were green. Her eyes glanced to his luggage and then to his violin. He had brought a violin half way across the world? She wondered how good he was if he was at all before her eyes snapped back to him as he bowed slightly.

"It is an honor to meet you in person, Detective"

_**Case 463: Start**_

She wanted to return the compliment, but she really wasn't happy to see him. She was however, slightly impressed with his attire. He looked professional. First impressions were everything. He was doing quite well. She held out her gloved hand.

"It is nice to meet you, Detective Chastity"

"Please detective, for at least the first little while we know one another, let's pretend we're friends. Call me Sebastian"

He gripped her hand, squeezing it in his. She was a little more impressed now. Somewhere in the middle of his sentence he had switched from speaking English to speaking Japanese. She felt a small smile turn on her lips.

"You can speak Japanese"

"I speak four languages, Detective"

"Well, that will certainly make things easier when communicating with you"

"I hope we will end up working well together, detective. Shall we be off?"

She nodded and waited for him to pick up his things before leading him out of the terminal to the car. She opened the trunk for him to set his things inside before closing it and climbing into the car with him in close pursuit.

As he sat down, his eyes glanced over her just for a moment, taking her in. He noted her fingers behind those gloves and the way she had turned down her collar to expose her neck. The voice in his head growled quietly for only a moment and he felt himself smile out of habit when soaking in information on someone. He slipped on his seatbelt. He assumed at least three minutes of quiet before he would say anything. He was certain with her lack of interest in conversation that she wasn't happy to see him.

He waited his three minutes of the drive before he spoke out finally.

"Detective, would you mind if we stopped some place to get something to eat?"

She felt herself sigh internally. As polite as he had been, she just wanted to drop him off at his place of residence and get back to work.

"I am under orders, Mr. Chastity, to take you to your temporary housing and head back to work"

"I'll buy…"

At the offer she found herself considering a little more, completely unnoticing the droplets of rain beginning to tap against her windshield. There was a silence between them for a moment which Sebastian took as a no, but after a moment responded.

"Very well. I know a place"

It was a good thing it was starting to rain. She knew exactly where to go to get something to eat on a rainy day.

As she pulled up to the sidewalk of the Inaba shopping district, she pulled the keys from the ignition and indicated the store on the opposite side of the street. It was raining hard now, the rain almost bouncing off the street.

Aiya Restaurant.

"Is here sufficient to your liking, Detective?"

"This looks fine, Detective Shirogane. Is it good?"

"My friends and I use to eat here all the time."

"Wonderful"

He opened his door and pressed down on the lock before looking both ways across the street and making a run for it, pulling his jacket up over his head until he got just inside, Naoto closely behind. At least she had a hat.

It was always clean inside, and the food was always nice. She hadn't eaten here in several weeks. The last time she had been here was only for some tea while looking over some findings for the case back when it was vastly simpler. How did things get so complicated so fast?

She picked the booth her and her friends and normally picked even if it was only for the two of them. They were receiving stares from several of the other customers. It wasn't often a Caucasian was seen in these parts. Sebastian didn't seem to mind though, almost like he was eating up the attention with a small smile. But when the voice in his head whispered quietly to him, he drew quiet, looking down into the table a whispering back to it.

"I know. I already figured that out"

"Is everything ok, Detective?"

He looked back up and cleared his throat.

"Everything is fine, Naoto-sama. Just talking to myself"

The way his eyes traveled over her form as she sat there gave her the distinct impression she was being eyed up. But it wasn't the way most people did. He was calculated the way he moved his eyes, always waiting for a moment for her to look away to steel a glance at another part of her. She had a theory what he was doing, but she would test the theory later. Right now, she wanted something to eat, starving having forgotten to eat breakfast again this morning.

When the waitress, Aika Nakamura, a now long time server at the restaurant, approached, she bowed her head, hands folded behind her back to take their order. She was unsure how to address the young man opposite Naoto.

"I am rather famished, detective Shirogane. What would you suggest?"

She felt a small smile creep on her lips and did her best to fight it down.

"Well, since it is raining today, you could always try the rainy day special"

"Even the name sounds enticing."

He looked to the young woman, smiling gently.

"I'll have two of those please"

Naoto felt her smile evaporate almost instantly at his order request. Two. Even Kanji had problems with one, and that man could really eat when he wanted to. The only person she knew who could finish one was Souji, and even then it had taken the better part of a year for him to actually sit down and finish one.

The waitress had the same expression as Naoto at the request. She had almost no doubt in her mind that this man wouldn't be able to finish. Which as far as a business perspective was concerned, it was good. She wanted to advise against it but instead closed her mouth with a smile and wrote down his order.

Naoto was a little more hesitant, but at the same time, it wasn't her money that was being spent on two rainy day specials. She grazed over the menu quickly, ordering a spicy miso soup. She felt a little guilty if she was to buy anything too expensive since he was about to take the rainy day special times two. They had time till their food would arrive.

"Detective Chastity?"

He called out to the waitress, politely asking for water, and lots of it, before he turned to her.

"Why are you here?"

"I'm afraid I don't understand the question, Naoto-sama"

He could almost taste her venom as she spoke but he remained polite never the less.

"What I mean to ask is that since we are quite capable of solving this case on our own, why are you here?"

Sebastian cleared his throat and straightened in his seat.

"When things get a little out of control, certain numbers are called when no results are found within a certain amount of time. If it had been one body, detective, or even two, I would not have been bothered with this little visit. But when six are found dead within 72 hours, people begin to get a little concerned and the preverbal flags are raised. Then a timer starts ticking down."

"How long is this timer?"

"Two weeks. After two weeks have passed and if nothing has surfaced, I expect a phone call. The cases I take care common from all over the world, but under normal circumstances most law enforcers find something; a footprint or a fingerprint for example. But as time goes on, the countdown draws closer to 0. And when it runs out, certain numbers come up. I am one of those numbers"

"You failed to answer my question"

He was quiet for a moment as he tried to answer, deciding to use what another person of his organization once said to him.

"It may not be polite, or appropriate, or even in some cases accurate, but I am the one they call when things go wrong"

She was quiet for a moment, trying to understand his position.

"So your duty is to point out how useless I am at my job then?"

He raised his hand in protest.

"Please Detective; don't put words in my mouth. I already read your dossier at home and I am thoroughly impressed by your work. As far as I can see, you are a dedicated and very intelligent individual. I wouldn't be calling you Naoto-sama if I didn't have respect for you. That is how that word is properly used, isn't it?"

"It is"

"Then I would request of you to take that at face value in understanding what I think of you personally. I do not believe that you are bad or even above par at your job. I think you are an excellent detective and I look forward to seeing you work in the field. But if you are to be mad at anyone, be mad at your superior. I simply answered the phone"

The woman set down their glasses of water, Naoto kept hers where it was but Sebastian moved his to the other side of the table. He was left handed.

"See? Now that look alone, Naoto-sama, proves something to me. It was such a small gesture and you caught it without hesitation"

He was referring to her noticing he was left handed and she cleared her throat, looking down a little embarrassed at his comment and at being caught in her deduction of the man. But when she realized he had noticed her noticing, she looked back up to his small smile. They were going to just keep playing off each other. Naoto could feel it.

The woman returned with Naoto's bowl, steaming and red with large chunks of shredded beef inside with corn and broccoli. Sebastian thought it looked good and made a note to try it next time. But on her next two trips she brought over his two large bowls of the rainy day special. Before the second bowl hit the table he had already gone over the contents of the dish in his head, filing it away in his mind. Steak, rice, two kinds of soy sauce, bean sprouts, pac choi, mushrooms, white onion, ginger, garlic, and several spices he couldn't quite see or smell particularly. Naoto watched his eyes, more interested on the way he stared into his meal like he was reading a book than actually looking. He reached for his chopsticks at the same time she did. Before she brought the first mouthful to her lips she asked,

"If I may inquire, what makes you the one they call?"

"I can see things people miss"

"So can I"

"I know. And if you can as well, then what can I see?"

Naoto ate her meal slowly, watching as the man in front of her turned into almost an animal as he ate. He almost practically inhaled his food as they sat there, going through half of the first bowl before her fifth mouthful and finishing it by her seventh as she slowed down to watch. She noticed several of the customers had also stopped eating to watch as had the owner and the waitress. Where was he putting all this food? He had just finished one bowl in less than eight minutes.

"How is it that you can keep eating?"

He finished taking a few gulps off his water, pushing his empty bowl aside and pulling the next one in front of him.

"I have an almost insatiable hunger, detective. I told you I was hungry"

He paused a moment, speaking quietly almost like an afterthought

"I'm eating for two"

That made no sense to her. Eating for two was a more common phrase among pregnant women. Or overweight men if they were making a joke to their friends. But if this was a joke, she didn't understand it from this man.

"What does that mean?"

He smiled a little.

"If we ever get to that point, I'll tell you a little secret"

She couldn't help but find herself staring as he continued to shovel the contents of the infamous"meat dimension" bowl into his mouth. He wasn't look at her, but he could feel her watching and swallowed his mouthful hard, waiting for the growl in his head to grow quiet as he ate.

"You're staring, detective"

She quickly looked down into her bowl, eating slowly now. She wanted to stare. She wanted to watch him cram his meal down into his stomach, swallowing just over 2000 calories in a single meal. It was impressive…disturbing to say the least. Instead she willed herself to look down into her bowl, eating quietly. As she finished her meal, he cleared his throat, placing his chopsticks into the empty bowl and the empty bowl into the other empty one. 6000 yen. He had just eaten 6000 yen of food and looked as though he had room for more. He wiped the table in front of him and took another few gulps of his water. She felt a little silly as she looked down into her bowl, still remnants of food in it. She wondered if she should offer it to him since he was paying.

"Are you still hungry, Sebastian-san?"

"I am sated for now detective. But thank you for the concern. Am I able to order this on a not so rainy day?"

"I don't know"

"Well I hope so. It was nice"

Naoto pushed her bowl away, setting her chopsticks inside the dish. The woman returned to the table to collect the dishes, a little frustrated expecting to have been able to give them a big bill, but she placed the single sheet of paper on the table with very little writing on it. Sebastian grabbed for it before Naoto could look at the bill even though she knew the cost already. He squinted at it. A little confused he called the waitress over.

"Hi. Sorry to bother you, but why isn't my meal on the bill?"

Naoto was quick to respond.

"It's the rainy day challenge"

The woman responded next.

"If you eat it all then your meal is free"

Sebastian bit the side of his tongue before reaching for his wallet.

"Well that's not good. If I had known I would have ordered something else. How much is one if you fail?"

"3000 yen, Sir"

"That seems fair enough"

He took a second glance at the bill before pulling several bills from his wallet. He paid for her meal and one of his bowls regardless of the waitress's protests. He didn't think it fair to take advantage of these people due to his hunger. They had been willing to accept the money. They both stood now at the door of the restaurant and he pulled his jacket up over his head before Naoto opened the door and they both ran out towards the car. She jumped in quickly and reached across the island divide to unlock his door and let him it. A good day had turned dismal so fast. When he sat down he pulled on the sleeves of his jacket and tightened his tie a bit, straightening the little gold chain pinned through the material.

"Nice chain"

"Nice bow"

She smiled a bit and started the car but took a moment, not looking him in the eye as she turned to face him, her eyes buried under the rim of her hat.

"Thank you for the meal, Sebastian-san"

"You are very welcome, Naoto-sama"

They both reached for their seat belts and secured themselves before Naoto put the car in drive. She was now back on track. All she had to do was take him to his place of residence and then get back to work. Two hours in and so far so good. She still didn't want him here, but there grew a small inkling in the back of her mind that maybe she had been a little quick to judge.

_Case 463: In-progress_


	9. Chapter 9

Sebastian slowly cracked his eyes as he regained consciousness with a quiet groan. Panic hit him first before remembering what had happened. He was on the floor. Slowly he rolled over onto his back, pushing the case of his violin out of the way so he could stretch out. He brought his hands up to rub his face and along his eyes.

"How long was I out?"

The voice in his head, deep and throaty with a growl, responded in kind.

"Three hours"

"Well, it's more than I usually get. Did I miss any calls?"

"No. But you did miss several text messages"

"I'll deal with it later. What time is it?"

"Somewhere around nine"

"Guess I better get to work then"

Hours earlier, Sebastian had been sitting quietly in the car with the young detective, looking over the case file she had brought.

"Is this everything you have so far?"

"It is"

Sebastian sighed, flipping through a few more pages

"Not much to go on…"

He felt another wave of exhaustion hit him and he felt himself fall forward a bit, but caught himself at the last moment. He shook his head trying to clear his thoughts. Naoto hadn't noticed and he was thankful for that.

The drive finally ended as they pulled up to a small house at the end of the street. Sebastian couldn't read the name as they passed by the street signs. He would have to just remember the look of the words. And he would. The house was quaint and small, nestled up against a hill behind the house that was the extent of the view from the back. The white house with black and green frame made him smile a little bit and he held out his hand as Naoto offered him the key, given to her by the chief the day prior. She turned off the engine and exited the car with him to open the trunk and he pulled his suit case and violin out.

"If I may inquire, detective Chastity, why did you bring a violin with you?"

"It helps me sleep when I need to, Naoto-sama. It also helps me think"

She didn't understand, but who was she to question the workings of another detective. She was certain some of her methods would be odd to him when she worked with them in the field.

She unlocked the door for him and he entered the foyer to take a quick look around. She went back to the car to grab his copies of the case. He set his violin case on the hardwood of the kitchen entrance as well as his suitcase against the wall. This was going to be his place of residence until the case was over. He hoped the owner had cleaned his bed sheets before he left. Or did the dishes at least.

She took a quick look around the room herself, taking in the living room in the back of the kitchen just past the foyer.

"It's nice"

"If you need anything detective…"

"Where can I buy groceries?"

She cleared her throat and took a step backwards, needing to get back to work.

"Junes. It is an estimated six blocks down the street we came. Will you need directions?"

"I think I can find my way around Naoto-sama"

"If you are settled Detective, I need to return to work"

"Of course detective. I will see you tomorrow then. I'm looking forward to working with you."

"As am I detective Chastity"

She wasn't certain if she was, but she was almost fairly certain she wasn't as she took the hand he offered to shake it. She gave a quick tip of her hat before walking back to the car, heading back to the station. Sebastian watched her drive off from the doorway, closing it half way to not let her see him bracing himself against the wall and praying she didn't see how pale he had just turned. He smiled as she drove off and closed the door. Taking slow breaths he felt a flood of relief wash through him and he turned to collapse onto the hard wood of the kitchen. As the world faded into black, he heard the quiet growling in his head return.

Slowly he turned onto his stomach again and drew his legs up to stand back in the foyer and took his black boots off, sliding down the zipper on the insides. He took the time to move around the house, getting his baring and surroundings of the place. Two stories. Three bedrooms, two bathrooms. Kitchen connected to living room, kitchen to bedroom/bathroom, kitchen to stairs leading to second floor. As he got to the top of the stairs he was met with a T-junction. To the right was a bedroom and bathroom; to his left was another bedroom. A house for a family of four. Nice place for a single police officer. He wondered how the man could afford it.

He made his way back downstairs and into the master bedroom that connected to the kitchen. Dresser, closet, bathroom, futon. He never understood why people just didn't buy a bed. But he had theories. The more likely of which was people wanted more space. A bed was meant to be slept in and then put away for the day.

He unfolded the futon and leaned down, sniffing the sheets several times. Unwashed. How rude. He sneered and pulled the sheets from the bed as well as the pillow cases. He would need to find the washer and dryer. Or perhaps he would sleep on the couch in the living room. No. No, he wasn't going to sleep on the couch the entire time.

As he searched the house for the washing machine, he talked to himself.

"So…what happened back there?"

"I don't know what you mean"

"You know exactly what I mean. Always there, always with a comment or word of advice and you just up and disappeared on me"

"I was preoccupied"

"Right. After this many years with me, only now are you preoccupied with something"

"I felt something"

"Go on"

He found the washing machine and dryer downstairs just outside the back door on the small back porch slab of concrete.

"Something else was there with the detective. Something over their shoulder"

"So?"

"It rendered me speechless"

"My my. Growing attached a little quickly, aren't we?"

The voice, embarrassed, grew quiet.

He turned the washing machine on to clean his sheets before returning to the room upstairs, the bedroom on the left. He opened the door to an almost empty room. There was a couch against the far wall, but mostly empty aside from that. He felt a small smile stretch on his face. This would be perfect.

He tossed the case files onto the couch and went back downstairs into the kitchen, retrieving a pair of scissors from one of the drawers. He grabbed his luggage from the foyer and brought it onto the couch in the living room and unzipped one of the small pouches to retrieve a small spool of red, black, and green thread and a pack of tacks before heading back upstairs.

Sitting down on the couch, he opened the case file and began to read over its pages, cutting out key pieces of information about the victims and their autopsies. He cut out large chunks of information and the photocopied pages of their pictures. When he missed something, the voice in his head would instruct him to go back and look over a piece of information he missed and he would cut it out.

After two hours, he had a small stack of cut out blocks of information sitting beside him on the couch and a shredded case file which he stuffed back into the folder. He would need to return it to the detective in the morning when he arrived to work.

He stood from his seat and began to tack the chunks of information to the walls in clusters for each victim. He would need to remind himself to fill the holes he would leave by the time the case was over. Two victims were placed along the three walls leaving him more than enough room to maneuver around them as he would move to the next step of beginning his investigation.

When he was finished, he went for the thread and began to link the pieces of information with any connections they might have. Certain connections were linked in red, possible connections would be linked in green, and black would be linked with connections needing investigation.

Within another two hours he had them all linked about the room connected to the fan on the ceiling. He had decided to make the ceiling fan the murderer. In a figurative sense. He stretched quickly and looked from the center of the room at the case around him. There was so little solid evidence. That wasn't good.

He moved downstairs to grab his violin case and brought it back upstairs, cracking it on the couch. He smiled down at the instrument as he ran his fingers along the shiny stained wood before pulling the bow from its spot on the top of the case, running it along it's small block of resin several times. He pulled the violin to him as he stood up and made his way back to the center of the room and placed his bow along the strings. He already knew it was tuned.

As he drew the bow across the strings, his eyes moved along the photos and clippings he had cut out, piecing together the investigation so far. He spoke out loud and the voice in his head responded in kind and asked the most basic question.

"Ideas?"

"They aren't connected"

"They aren't connected to each other. But they were all killed by the same person"

"How can you tell?"

He increased the tempo of his song as he moved about the room, his mind piecing together what he knew, filling the blanks with assumptions and hunches and a more likely outcome

"Six killed from places around the world all without a trace and all ending up in the same place under the same circumstances. It is not as though there is a market for this sort of thing."

He smiled to himself and he turned to face the other wall, sliding his fingers along the strings to play the notes he needed for the song.

"So six murders and each of them killed by the same person. What about transportation from one spot from another?"

"Three theories currently exist."

"Illegal transportation, private transportation…falling out of the sky seems unlikely"

"But not impossible"

"They all worked for rather well paying businesses. Think someone wants them dead for their position?"

"With known evidence it is unlikely.-"

"-because there isn't a single person who works for these companies that would benefit-"

"-and no single company eliminating competition holds enough sway with any of the work places of the victims to have a financial gain from the death of a total stranger"

He was slightly frustrated. So few questions could be answered from what they knew. The voice spoke first.

"Unless they were targeted…"

"We knew they were targeted"

"…by an outside person"

He stopped playing for a moment as his smile began to grow and he set his bow along his side as he looked from picture to picture

"Interesting theory. A third party kills someone for someone else to move ahead in a company…but can we prove it?"

"Maybe there really is a market for that line of work after all"

"Oh this is good. This is very exciting"

"More data will be required for a certain motive"

"And we still need to take a look at a body"

"Perhaps there is one in the morgue at the police station"

"Unlikely they have kept one thus far. Once the paperwork is completed they most likely contacted family to arrange travel plans or disposal"

"So it would be better to wait for another victim?"

"Unfortunately so"

He drew the bow across the strings a final time before looking away from the walls and outside through the small window at his back. Sunrise. They had been at it all night. He yawned and set his violin back into its case with its bow and snapped the case closed.

"What time is it?"

"About 6am"

"Do I have enough time for a run and a shower before the detective picks me up?"

"If you change quickly you will have enough time"

"Wonderful"

He yawned quietly to himself as he made his way downstairs, unbuttoning the three buttons to his blazer and slid it off his shoulders, resting it over the back of a chair. He began to open the buttons to his shirt after removing his tie, unpinning the chain from it to set it on the kitchen table. Slowly he let the material slide from his body and he folded it up neatly, also setting it on the table.

Naoto blushed from her spot on the hill, the green blanket over her body having kept her warm through the night. "Keep an eye on him" the chief had said. "Don't let him out of your sight." She was perfectly comfortable with spying on the detective or anyone else for that matter, but she felt uncomfortable as she watched him undress.

His skin was slightly more pale than that rest of his body but it was toned from years of…some…sort of physical training. She couldn't determine just on appearance. She pulled the small silver binoculars from her eyes to rub them before peering through them again, watching as he turned to move for his luggage. Then she saw his scar. The mass of scaring ran from the base of his spine almost to the back of his neck. A large build up of scar tissue and surface damage had formed a large, thick, almost protruding scar on his back about the width of a soda can across and almost two feet long.

She found herself staring at it as he moved, watching it bend and fold to his body. When he pulled the belt around his waist free, she removed the binoculars from her face to look away, her face burning. She couldn't deny that there was that small bit of curiosity in her that wanted to watch, but she needed to be professional about it. That notion outweighed her curiosity.

She counted to ten, then twenty, then thirty in her head before looking back through the lenses at him. He had slipped on a pair of black track pants with three red stripes down either leg and was just slipping on a silver shirt that complimented his figure well and looked good juxtaposed to his black hair. She could still see the outline of his scar as he moved to put on a pair of red and yellow running shoes. They looked expensive.

He did a quick stretch and grabbed his mp3 player and headset from his luggage before heading out the door, locking it behind him. She watched him begin his run, surprised at not only his speed, but the effort in which he gave it. His run was in full stride as though he was chasing something or someone. She needed to take up running. She really should work on her cardio.

When she was sure he was out of sight, she creeped her way out from the blanket and stood up, stretching her arms and legs. As she made her way down the hill, she pulled her hat from her head, shaking her hair out for a moment and then tucking it back under her hat once she had placed it back on her head.

She was exhausted and didn't realize it until she reached the back door next to the washer and dryer which he hadn't locked. She tested the knob and pushed the door opening. Peering around the corner, she listened for anything out of the ordinary. Clear. She kicked her shoes off and stepped inside the house, feeling herself cringe at breaking a very basic law. But she was under orders by her supervisor. Perhaps she was taking them a little too literally.

She looked around the kitchen. He hadn't eaten all night or into the morning. Perhaps he was still full from his meal earlier. She assumed she had an hour or less to learn more about the detective before he got back. But with his running speed, she wasn't so sure and nor was she sure how far he would travel along the single road before heading back.

She first moved for his jacket, reaching into the breast pocket to take a look at his wallet. The black leather almost shined in the light of the kitchen as she opened it, looking at the stack of bills within. There was quite the sum inside. Next was his identification which she studied to memory. The picture on his ID was slightly blurry as well. She couldn't imagine how difficult getting his passport photo was. How many times he would have to go back for a re-shoot.

She folded the wallet back up and slid it back into the breast pocket of his jacket before moving for his luggage in the living room. She carefully moved his articles of clothing out of the ways she dug deeper, not wanting to leave a trace of her presence. He had plenty of dress shirts and different pairs of slacks as well as two other pairs of leather shoes. Everything looked so expensive in the suitcase. Even the case itself didn't look cheap. When she was done working in this town, she would need to figure out how to get into his line of work. Maybe she could buy a nice Rolex like the first victim had.

There was little to work with in the bag and she didn't have time to search through all the compartments, but she was certain this was meant for cloths. In the small time she had interacted with him, he had been kind, and yet direct. Unlikely he would hide something in his luggage. So instead she moved her way upstairs to the room she had heard the music from. He knew how to play after all. And he had been very good at it.

When she opened the door to the room, she was stunned by the intricacy of the web he had created. She was careful not to touch any of the strings of thread as she made her way to the center. She looked up to the fan and followed the strings outward to the pieces he had pinned to the walls with the photos and paragraphs from her report. He had a strange way of trying to figure out the case. She didn't quite understand it. But when she stood in the center like a spider and opened her arms, she could almost feel the answers come to her as she looked about, her fingertips just ever so gently running along the thread. Strange. She would have to do this at home….maybe. See if it really worked.

Sebastian took deep gulps of air as he moved to a slow walk, catching his breath and pulling the buds from his ears. He had tied the key to the house on the string on his track pants and untied it before unlocking the door to the house. He needed a shower. He only had maybe two hours before work. It was wonderful running here. No one was around. Everyone was still asleep or getting ready for work, but no one had been on the road. He kicked off his running shoes at the door.

"New record?"

"You were 17 seconds behind your previous best"

"We'll try again to-"

He felt himself freeze up once he entered the kitchen and slowly he leaned his head up, sniffing at the air. Something was out of place. He took a quiet step into the kitchen, sniffing at the air as he moved. He wasn't imagining it. The voice growled.

"We are not alone"

He would have reacted differently, but his memory suddenly jogged.

"Damn it. I forgot to put the sheets in the dryer last night. I hope they don't smell."

As he opened the back door and pulled it open, he notices the black boots on the small cement patio.

"Well that narrows it down, doesn't it?"

He leaned down, picking up one of the shoes to examine it, making a note at the thicker sole and heel of the boot. He ran his fingers along the cheap leather and turned it over a few times to look at the condition of the material. He placed his hand inside; pressing down against it, feeling the indent of the foot it belonged to. As he pulled his hand out he reached down to pick up the other. He spoke with a smile.

"Smell anything, my friend?"

"I do"

"Tell me"

"Confirmation"

"Wonderful. So they are a liar as well…"

"Confrontation?"

"Later. When the time is right"

He smiled and turned back inside the house, placing the shoes down in the foyer near the front door. He could just sit there. Pull out a seat and wait for the detective to come down. But that would be rude…and frightfully awkward. He was better than that. Instead he zipped up his suitcase and pulled it into the bedroom, closing the door behind him, only moments later coming back out to move his sheets from the washer to the dryer. If he was lucky, he could get some sleep tonight. But that was a fleeting dream. Right now, he needed a shower before work.

Naoto pushed herself tightly against the door to his web room, hand pulled over her mouth and eyes clenched tightly. Her heart was pounding in her chest. She had heard him talking to himself, but she felt relief sweep through her once she heard the pop of the water of the house begin to run as he began his shower after his run. Did he never sleep?

Slowly she calmed herself down and opened the door to look down the hallway. Clear. She quietly, stepping on the edge of the stairs as she moved, walked down the staircase to the kitchen and moved to the backdoor. But when she got there, she felt terror run rampant through her when her shoes weren't there. Had he taken them? Was she to stand there and wait? Or hide? Was he wanting to confront her about this and hid her…

Relief was what she wanted to run through her when she saw them by the front door, but only disappointment in herself and a bit of shame came from her. He caught her. But rather than confront her he had again been polite and let her go on her way. She pulled her hat down over her eyes before sitting down to pull on her boots. She cursed herself once she opened the door, knowing she needed to go back around to the hill to pick up her blanket before going to her car….and then she had to pick him up for work.

She could feel that it was going to be the longest car ride of her life.


	10. Chapter 10

Throwing his towel over a small hook on the wall of the bathroom, Sebastian left it to get changed for his day. He opened his suitcase on the couch in his bedroom and pulled out a black dress shirt and a dark red tie with a new pair of black slacks, a pair of black boxer briefs and a pair of black socks. He would need to remember to attach his chain on the kitchen table to it before he left for work.

He slid on the shirt and buttoned it up to his neckline and wrapped his tie around his neck, folding it up properly and pulling it snuggly against his neck, buttoning the little wings of his shirt down over the tie and folding the collar back. He sat on the couch and slid on his socks next. The voice in his head cleared its throat.

"Are you not going to speak of this?"

"There is nothing to speak of."

"So the detective may run freely through your things in other words…"

"No. But I have a feeling that they know I know. The detective will learn in time. Everyone learns in time. Be patent"

When he finished getting dressed he went back to the kitchen to sit and wait for the detective to pick him up for work. He pulled his cellphone from his pocket to look at the messages that he had missed from earlier the night before. Three were from Naoto, one from the chief, and three from his superior. He ignored the ones from his superior and the chief and deleted them without looking at their details. Whatever his superior had to say could wait, whatever the chief said he could talk about in person, but Naoto was a little more difficult to read.

'Is everything to your liking? Y/N,' 'do you require a ride to work tomorrow? Y/N,' 'will 9 AM be an appropriate time to pick you up tomorrow? Y/N'

He responded

'Y,Y,Y'

He looked at the clock. He had an hour to burn until the detective arrived. So he returned to the bedroom and took his phone charger from his bag and plugged it in to charge his phone. He then moved to get his sheets and pillow cases from the dryer. He just needed to keep himself busy. But as he began to unfold his futon to make his bed, his stomach grumbled.

"Are you going to feed us?"

"No"

"Why not?"

"Because you were trouble"

"We are hungry"

"I don't care. Be quiet. We will eat lunch in a few hours"

"We want to eat now"

"Don't be such a child"

The doorbell rang and he adjusted the cases on his pillows before he stood up, his knees cracking.

"Coming"

When he opened the door to the house, Naoto, head down and hat pulled over her eyes, stood quietly in the doorway

"Detective Shirogane"

He looked at the clock in the kitchen

"I wasn't expecting you for another forty five minutes"

"I brought you breakfast"

The voice in his head was quiet again but he looked at what she offered none the less. In her hands she carried a large brown paper bag. He could smell the grease from where he stood, but the coffee she carried in the other hand seemed inviting.

"You didn't need to, Detective"

"I wanted to"

She was quick to push the conversation forward

"I-it's just that you haven't had time to go shopping yet. So I didn't think you had the necessary things for breakfast"

He smiled slightly and reached his hand forward, just gently raising the rim of her hat up. She was looking down but looked up to him shyly.

"Thank you for your concern Detective"

He took a step aside to let her into the house. She felt bad for having snuck in earlier to rummage through his things regardless of her orders, and she felt this was the least she could do. She knew she probably wouldn't feel bad if she hadn't have been caught. That and she needed to repay him for lunch the day before. He took the bag and tray of coffee from her so she could take her boots off. While she took them off, he sat down at the kitchen table and opened the bag to two sandwiches. No doubt one for each of them. He took one of the sandwiches and one of the cups of coffee and set the other on the table for her on the opposite side.

She sat down opposite him but just stared at her food as he pulled back the wrapping to his sandwich.

"I hope it is to your liking, Detective Chastity"

His words were slow as he examined his sandwich.

"I won't say it again, Detective Shirogane, but please pretend we're friends and call me Sebastian"

He pulled back the top layer of bread for the sandwich. A fried egg, bacon, cheese, and thick potato layer. Internally he smiled. The longer he could go without succumbing to the local dishes, the better he would feel. If this case took several months, he couldn't imagine the expression on his face when he could eat at a burger king. Then he remembered the state of the floors and stopped smiling.

She didn't eat her food while he did, just sat there quietly, hands folded in her lap, looking down at her legs. He wasn't saying anything about it. Why? Was he just being polite? Or maybe he didn't know? No. she knew that wasn't the answer. She knew he had a way of looking at things and had no doubt, if not before, known they were her shoes he had moved.

"You look tired, Shirogane. Are you not sleeping well?"

She looked up a little abruptly and then relaxed, nodding her head. She had been up all night watching him from the hill. She needed to keep quiet about it. She would be honest, but circumnavigate the previous night.

"I haven't been sleeping well since the investigation"

"Stress?"

She nodded again

"Well I hope to take a little of that stress off you. Everyone needs their beauty sleep"

Something clenched up tightly inside of her when he spoke but she quickly dismissed it and slowly unwrapped her sandwich, taking small bites off of it, returning her eyes to looking down.

As they sat there together, he couldn't imagine what was running through her mind. But he did have several theories. He wondered if he just stayed quiet, how insane would it drive her? How uncomfortable would it make her? He leaned back in his chair and looked under the table at the detectives legs which barely came down to the floor and along her feet, confirming a hypothesis. He felt the voice in his head growl quietly with confirmation and he sat back up in his chair. Naoto took a sip of her coffee.

"Do you have trouble sleeping, De-…Sebastian?"

"Every night"

"How long has it been since you had a full night's sleep?"

"About 14 years"

She was quiet mid chew as she looked up to him. She swallowed her mouthful. Was that why he didn't sleep last night? Because he can't? She could go a week or so without getting a decent night's sleep before the hard crash to follow. But years? Almost a decade and a half?

"How do you deal with it?"

"I don't. I pass out when it gets too bad and I take long catnaps"

"Have you seen a doctor?"

"Three"

"What did they say?"

"Get more exercise"

"You seem as though you get plenty of exercise"

She did it again and let it slip that she had watched him.

"I agree. But exercise isn't the problem"

He had ignored the slip up. She knew she wasn't that lucky. Fortune or not. He was just being polite. She needed to smarten up and watch her tongue. He was more intelligent that she had originally believed he was and that was becoming problematic. She had to watch him again tonight. She wondered if she could lock herself in her office while he did some field work to get an hour or so sleep. But she suspected not.

"What is the problem then?"

He smiled up to her after taking a drink of his coffee

"I'm too much in my own head. Too many thoughts"

"I don't know what that's like"

"Then I envy you for such a thing"

There was a moment of silence between them as they ate, the awkwardness of the situation pressing down on her from all sides. She knew that he knew she had snuck into his place and looked around. But he wasn't saying anything. It could have been out of sheer politeness, but Sebastian didn't say anything because she was already beating herself up about it. And he preferred that to confrontation. He would save it for another time.

"Do you know how long you will be here, Sebastian?"

"On the case?"

"Yes"

"I would hope no more than a few weeks. Three or four at the latest. But in the event that it takes longer, so be it. My only concern is that the man we traded with will need to come back home because I am taking too long and I will have to find residence elsewhere. Which will not be a problem, just slightly inconvenient."

Naoto felt the words come out of her mouth before she could catch them, her brain just jumping to the closest solution and blurting it out.

"My partner Detective Dojima has a room you might be able-"

He raised his hand in protest again.

"I don't want to be a burden to anyone, Naoto. I am here to do my job and leave. If my job requires me to find residence elsewhere then I will do so. But I will not be a burden to anyone in order to do my job. Being in a foreign house is one thing, but I am alone in this house. Being with your partner would be even worse. I take it he was taken off this assignment for me"

"He was"

"Then that would make it all the worse for the both of us"

There was quiet for a few more minutes between the two of them.

"How are you with our man in your home?"

"I already took the necessary precautions. Set out a list of instructions for him to follow so he doesn't get confused. So long as he washes my sheets and pillow cases before he leaves and cleans the dishes, I really don't care what he does."

She felt herself smile slightly

"It takes a lot to upset you, doesn't it?"

"I have a very short fuse detective. And when the fuse is lit I get angry, loud, and rather violent. My employer refers to me as volatile when my fuse is lit. But my fuse is wet. You have to try very very hard to lite it."

She understood. She almost felt like she was the same way. Someone had to work at making her upset or angry enough to lash out. But when she did, she felt like she was a completely different person. She kept most of her emotions inside. That similarity made her wonder if he was the same way. If he was hiding what he really was feeling, then she couldn't imagine what he was really trying to convey with the smallest of motions. But unlike her, he was honest. So was he really expressing all there was to express or was he hiding something deeper? The whole idea made her frustrated and confused and she put on the face of it she normally did when frustrated with a deduction. He noticed it and once again knew what she was thinking.

"Don't think too hard on it, Naoto. You'll give yourself a migraine"

She looked up to him but pulled her hat down a bit.

"How can you know what I'm thinking?"

He took a sip of his coffee and stood up, taking her plastic wrapping from the table and his and putting them into the bag before disposing of them.

"I told you detective: I can see things people miss."

She stood up as well, biting the inside of her lower lip as she went to put her boots on. He was as smart as her. Possibly smarter. That or he was just very good with deductions. Either way, she would have to watch herself closely around him to ensure not to give away too much information. She would have to think about what she said before she said it.

When they arrived at the police station, Naoto was surprised to see Dojima standing outside on the steps. As she waited for Sebastian to get out of the car and she locked the doors, she wondered if this was to be an altercation. Dojima was the last person to ever really let anything go. He was also a man to hold a grudge. But as they approached, she looked to Sebastian who had his small smile on his face. He said nothing as Dojima walked down the two steps towards her and she reached into her coat pocket to hand him the keys. He looked to her, then Sebastian and his smile, then back to her.

"Is this the one?"

She nodded her head, just watching the two. Dojima wasn't one for violence, but anything was possible.

Dojima looked Sebastian up and down, but she was more interested in the way that Sebastian looked at him. She followed his eyes as he took in Dojima's face. His unshaven stubble, the slight twitch in his jaw from his lack of nicotine for the last few days, the messiness of his hair, the way one arm of his shirt was rolled up further than the other and down to the way he tied his shoes. Sebastian's smile grew a little wider as he absorbed the man's information into his head.

"He doesn't look all that much smarter than me"

She was certain he didn't know that Sebastian knew how to speak Japanese and she felt herself tense up inside her stomach

"I can see why you were so angry you would have to deal with him. I feel kind of sorry for you Detective. Now you have to walk around and translate everything for him."

She felt her face heat up, Sebastian knew she had been speaking ill of him now.

Dojima took a step closer to Sebastian, looking into his eyes. He was acting a little out of character, but then again, Sebastian had been the source of his anger for the last few days. And hers until recently.

"I think you were right. He doesn't' look as smart as you"

She sighed and pulled her hat down over her eyes as she looked down, embarrassed. Sebastian on the other hand simply turned his head slightly with his small smile to look at her before laughing quietly.

"Detective Dojima, I presume?"

Dojima felt himself tighten up as well when he spoke Japanese. Sebastian offered his hand to Dojima to shake.

"Detective Sebastian chastity. I feel sorry for him having to deal with me as well. I knew I was unwanted here, but I'm a little surprised it was **this** unwanted"

Dojima felt a little sick. He had assumed like Naoto had that he wouldn't speak the language. But his assumption had been wrong and now he felt embarrassed and a little hurt that he had insulted this stranger to his face who was only trying to help. Slowly he reached up and took the man's hand in his, squeezing it to shake. His other hand left his pocket to scratch the back of his head.

"l-look…I'm-"

He stopped Dojima before he could speak

"I can understand why you are angry, Detective. I would be too. But I want to help. My job is to help fix things. I apologize for being the reason you were taken off this case. I know it must anger you. You look like a man who takes his job very seriously and is dedicated to it. But please don't look at me as the bad guy. I'm here to help stop the bad guy just as much as you..."

Dojima would have killed for a cigarette right now.

"If you want be angry at me, that's fine. But I would like to try and be friends with you and those I work with so I can get the job done fast so I can leave where I'm not wanted. Ok?"

"….ok"

Sebastian's small smile returned as he patted Dojima on the shoulder and walked past him and up the two steps. Dojima looked to Naoto but she only stood there, hat down, cheeks red, and hands in her pockets balled up in fists tight enough she thought she might break the skin.

"Detective Dojima"

Dojima turned slightly to look at Sebastian.

"Would you like to come over for dinner? Say…Wednesday? Sixish? I'm a really good cook"

Dojima was a little hesitant and surprised at the offer from the young man and just blurted out rather than thinking, his mouth ahead of his brain

"S-sure. I…no..no I can't. I have to take care of my daughter"

"Bring her along. I can make more"

Naoto only listened with her head down, the silence between them seeming to stretch on further

"yea….sure…ok"

"Wonderful. I'll see you at six then. Bring wine. White please. Red won't go well with dinner. I'll be sure to have something for your daughter to drink as well"

"o-ok. I'll tell her then"

Sebastian turned to open the door and cleared his throat as he held it open for Naoto. Dojima turned to look at his partner who just stood there for a moment before slowly making her way to the steps, each step she made making her a little more uncomfortable. She felt terrible, and embarrassed, her eyes stinging as they welled up.

She said nothing as they walked through the officers in the halls as they made their way through the station, Sebastian getting many a stare and a few insults in Japanese as he entered. Apparently this was not the best place to be as far as popularity was concerned. He didn't expect any hugs or high fives from these men and women. And regardless of Naoto being near, the voice in his head growled viciously as they passed by the officers on their way to the chief's office.

When they finally reached the glass door to the man's office, Naoto stopped just outside the door and knocked on the glass. He was on the phone with someone. When he saw Naoto he waved her off and looked back down at his desk but then back up when he realized Sebastian was standing there, the black haired young man's smile was gone. Naoto looked over to Sebastian who looked at the chief in a professional manor rather than the playful sort he had been a few minutes ago with his small smile. He looked down to her with those stern green eyes of his and she looked away quickly, waiting for the chief to hang up the phone.

He waved them both in and Naoto gripped the door handle before pushing it open for Sebastian, speaking quietly to him as he walked past her into the office, looking down at the floor, her cheeks still red.

"I'm sorry"

He responded just as quietly, walking past her without looking at her.

"No you're not"


	11. Chapter 11

"Detective Shirogane, would you give us a moment?"

The chief leaned back in his chair when Sebastian entered the room and looked over Naoto. Head down, hat over eyes, and red faced. Had he made the detective upset? Naoto nodded her head quietly and closed the door behind her to leave the two alone. She took a deep breath and walked quietly and briskly to her office, locking the door and lowering the blinds. She wanted to be alone for a little while. She took off her hat and let her ponytail loose as she sat down in her chair, holding her head as she tried to calm down. Sebastian had turned to watch her go. Perhaps he had been a little rude. The voice in his head cleared its throat.

"Not to intervene at an inopportune time, but perhaps you should apologize later. Take the detective to dinner."

He didn't answer verbally but instead thought it. 'I'll make dinner later. Perhaps invite Naoto tonight. Clear the air.'

"Detective Chastity"

Sebastian turned back around to look at the chief who was now standing from his chair. He walked around his desk and offered his hand to him and Sebastian shook it firmly. Sebastian put on a small smile to the man, pleased he was speaking English to him regardless how unnecessary it was. He was getting a little tired of people assuming he didn't know the language. Did anyone in their tiny brains really think he would be dispatched to a place and walk around with an English to Japanese booklet in his pocket? He felt his right eye twitch.

"How was your flight over?"

"Dismal."

"And your temporary housing?"

"He didn't clean his sheets before he left. Rude if you ask me"

"I'll be sure to speak with him when he gets back"

"No you won't"

The man paused at his comment but cracked a small smile as he sat down in his chair, leaning back in it and folding his hands on his stomach.

"Have you read over the case file, Detective?"

"I have"

"Tell me what you think"

"I will need time with one of the bodies and a cornier before I can make a more solid assumption. But I must say that I am looking rather forward to working on this case"

"Good"

There was a moment of silence between the two of them as the chief eyed Sebastian up.

"What's on your mind, Detective?"

Sebastian was honest in his words and rarely held back to express what he was truly feeling. So when the man opened the door, Sebastian walked through it.

"I was wondering, Sir, if I am to expect the same bullshit attitude from you as the rest of the men and women of this police force?"

The man paused for a moment, caught off guard by his language, not truly accustom to being spoken to in such a fashion.

"Excuse me?"

"How long has word of my arrival been circulating around your officers?"

"Uh…about three days? Four if you include yesterday and this morning"

"So for the last four days it would seem I am some sort of joke or accident to your officers"

"I...I don't understand"

Sebastian yelled now, his fuse having been lit the moment he walked into the station. He cursed in Japanese to let the man understand he knew how to speak in the lands' tongue.

"Bullshit!"

There was a slow halt of traffic outside the office when he yelled. Naoto, in her office, dried her eyes on her sleeve and stood from her seat to see what the commotion was. She peeked through the curtains of her office window to watch the chief's office down the hall from hers. Sebastian's fuse had been lit. She wondered how he would react now.

"Detective Chastity-"

"I have been in this station less than ten minutes and all I have received so far are bets against me, ridicule, insults, and borderline threats from your officers."

Sebastian who had been leaning forward in his seat leaned back, flopping back in his seat.

"I am here because your officers can't solve this case on their own. Most likely because of their incompetence."

He turned in his seat to look out the glass door, making sure everyone within ear shot knew he was speaking to them.

"Incompetence!"

Naoto looked down and let go of the blinds, moving back to her chair, sitting quietly. Sebastian had seen her leave her spot by her blinds and felt the voice inside him sting a bit. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, smothering the anger that was trying to rise up inside his chest and stomach. He opened his eyes slowly and leaned back in his chair. He folded his hands in his lap and crossed his legs, now talking calmly and quietly.

"Look…I want to help you all. That's my job. But I won't help you if there isn't some level of respect between me and your officers. Or you for that matter."

"Detective-"

"I know you don't want me here, Sir. No one does…"

A small smile formed on his face

"…and if that be the case then let me just do my job so I can go home and get out of everyone's way."

The chief was quiet for a moment. Sebastian had been a point of joke and ridicule for the last few days around the office and he had let it go by. He had even joined in from time to time. But now that he was in front of him, he seemed to understand that he was just a man come to do his job. And regardless of his early, very warranted outburst, he was trying to be polite and professional.

"…What do you need from me Detective?"

Sebastian's smile grew a bit more.

"I will need a quiet place to work, away from your officers on the rare occasion I come into the office."

"Rare occasion?"

"I will not be in here every day, Sir."

"Why not?"

"I have my own methods, Sir. Field work. I will come in to update you on my progress once a week or to pull files or research documents necessary to my investigation. I do things my own way or not at all. That term is not negotiable, Sir"

The chief looked down at his desk and leaned forward, folding his hands on it. He wiped away a few specklets of dust off the wood. He was quiet as he considered the terms. It wasn't as though he had a choice. His superiors had turned in desperation to a man they didn't fully understand.

"…Very well. Anything else Detective?"

"Am I able to get transportation for the time I'm here? A ghost car preferably. Or a vehicle in general?"

The chief sighed as he thought.

"I may be able to acquire one from the next town over. But I can't promise anything."

"All I can ask is that you try, Sir."

"Will that be all?"

"I want Detective Shirogane as my partner for this case on a permanent basis for the duration of the investigation. To follow my same expected schedule"

"Why him?"

Sebastian smiled a little brighter exposing his white teeth in a half smile.

"Because he's smart enough to keep up with me"

The chief sucked his teeth for a moment before nodding.

"Anything else?"

"I think that will be all, Sir. Would you mind telling them to stop staring and to leave me alone?"

The chief looked past Sebastian to the outside office and stood from his seat, moving for his glass door. The traffic outside the office was still halted when the chief opened the door and took a step out into the offices. Sebastian continued to sit quietly, looking forward.

"Leave him alone to work. All of you. Shirogane!"

Naoto opened the door to her office after taking a moment to clean up and she stepped out to approach her superior

"Sir?"

"You will be assisting Detective Chastity on this case as his partner. Do you understand?"

Sebastian turned his head only slightly, indicating that he was listening to them. She sighed and nodded her head.

"Yes sir…"

"The two of you won't be coming into the office for the next little while. So grab what you need to now so you don't have to keep coming back"

She nodded her head again. The chief leaned his head down to whisper quietly.

"My previous order still stands"

"Understood, Sir."

Sebastian walked out from the office, approaching the chief. He offered his hand and the man took it.

"I will see you in one week's time, Sir, with an update on the case. I would like to speak with a coroner with a body tomorrow. Preferably someone with very steady hands and some skill with a knife"

"I'll see what I can do, Detective"

When Sebastian moved to let go, he was stopped and the man's hand gripped tighter on Sebastian's as he stood in front of him.

"I want to trust you Detective…"

"Then trust me"

The man let his hand go and Sebastian turned his attention to Naoto.

"I'll be outside when you're ready to leave"

Naoto didn't look at him but nodded her head. Sebastian glanced down at her jacket and noticed the few strands of grass attached to her coat. The voice growled to confirm a thought in his head before walking past them to go outside. Naoto turned to watch him leave as he straightened his tie, fixed the collar on his jacket, and ran his hands through his hair.

"Be careful with that one, Shirogane."

"I'm always careful, Sir"

"I want an update from you every evening, alright? You have my e-mail"

"Understood, Sir"

After Naoto had gathered her necessary things from her desk, she joined Sebastian outside the station. He was standing off to the side talking on his cellphone to someone. She didn't want to listen in, but she was his partner now and had nowhere to go to be out of earshot.

"I understand, Sir, but they were necessary"

…

"No. No I wouldn't say that"

…

"I understand, Sir."

…

"No. No. You aren't listening. This isn't a request. I'm not asking politely. Get me access to those damn files. I don't care if you have to send a ghost to get them. Just get it done"

…

"Then fire me. Send someone else to handle the case"

…

"Good. I'll expect them by Thursday then."

…

"Thank you, sir"

He hung up his phone and sighed, Naoto was certain he cursed in one of the other two languages he knew.

"Is everything alright Detective Chastity?"

He smiled with a small chuckle, running his tongue along his upper row of teeth

"It seems in order to get what I want; necessary bouts of rage must be distributed. I'm importing the work files of our victims. I'll have extra copies made for you when they arrive on Thursday"

"Thank you, Detective"

He turned half way to her with a small coy smile and she looked to the ground, correcting herself.

"Sebastian"

When she looked back up he approached her, moving a little closer than she was comfortable and she had to lean her head back slightly to look at him. His smile was gone.

"Naoto…I apologize for making you cry earlier. It was rude of me to assume your words were not honest when you said you were sorry and I apologize for making you upset. It was never my intention"

Naoto blinked and leaned her head back down, pulling her hat over her eyes.

"That is alright, Sebastian. It was warranted"

"It is not alright and it was not warranted, Detective. I apologize."

He took a small step back to give her her space and lifted the rim of her hat a bit to look at her.

"I want to be friends with you, Naoto. I really do. But I can't work with you if you won't start being honest with me. Understand?"

She didn't like him lifting her hat up, but she didn't think he could help himself. He was direct and honest. And she would need to get used to it. Or she could just be honest with him… He let go of her hat

"I will try, Sebastian"

"That's all I can ask of you I suppose"

There was a moment of silence between the two of them as they stared at one another. She liked this man. He was honest and kind. He was smart. Though he was a little volatile, as he had said he was, he was also very very strange. There was something off about him as well she just couldn't put her finger on. But it was there just out of her reach. Then it dawned on her. He had a secret as well. She could see it in his face and in his eyes. The same look she had from a day to day basis. The look she had perfected over years of practice to hide. But…if she knew he had a secret…did that mean he knew she had one? Worse yet, did he already know what it was? The thought caused her to shudder and she used everything she could to suppress it. She saw blood start to run from his nose.

"Detective…"

He blinked a few times and cleared his throat, reaching up to touch it.

"Excuse me"

He made his way over to the grass patch along the side of the building and pulled a handkerchief from his breast pocket, bringing it up to his nose, coughing several times as he leaned over.

"Are you alright?"

He nodded his head several times.

"Sleep deprivation causes high blood pressure which in turn, on a rare occasion, causes nose bleeds. I try to keep myself active and do what is necessary to keep my blood pressure down. But every now and then…"

"Are you alright?"

"Just give me a minute"

He stayed leaned over for a few minutes waiting for it to stop. It finally did as the third minute began to creep up and he finally leaned his head back, testing and waiting to see if it would start again. Nothing. He cleared his throat and tucked the handkerchief back into his breast pocket, making sure to fold up the cloth so ensure no wet blood would touch the inside of his jacket. Naoto waited patiently, a little concerned for his health now.

"So…what is next on the agenda, Sebastian?"

He cleared his throat and straightened his tie.

"Now we go to Junes so you can help me with my groceries. I think we have made enough progress for today. We can start fresh tomorrow. Or rather, we can start when your superior gets me that coroner so I can take a look at the bodies you have"

"I'm afraid we only have two remaining"

"Then that will have to do to start my investigation"

"But the coroner already gave us the lab results. All had an inconclusive COD"

"But they didn't know where to look or what they were looking for"

"And you do?"

"I'll know it when I see it"

Naoto sighed quietly, rolling her eyes.

"You are a strange man, Detective Chastity"

He smiled in return.

"I know"

The walk to Junes had taken them almost an hour. In that hour, little had been said between the two. Naoto had nothing to say to the man that his movements and the way he acted could already give away. So this is what it felt like to be observed and not just seen. It was a little scary to her. But did she have a right to complain when she had been doing it for years? He held the door open for her and she nodded her head as she walked past him into the market, a warm blast of air sweeping over them once they had entered the building. Warm air in the winter, cool AC in the summer.

"Sebastian…"

He glanced over to her after he pushed the button on the elevator

"What am I to do in the mean time?"

He smiled and took a step into the elevator with her, pressing the button for the market on the first floor

"I expect you to wait. Keep yourself busy until I call on you. I want my partner there when I examine the body and to work with me when the work history of the deceased arrive. Speaking of which…"

He pulled his cellphone from his pocket and opened his contact list, punching in her name.

"…I will need your phone number, Detective. Your text messages come up as blocked. I assumed they were you however. No one else outside of my work knows my number."

He handed her his phone and she took in the condition, trying to be inconspicuous about it after punching in her number to the respective slot. But then she remembered who she was dealing with and decided to just do it out in the open. He leaned over to watch her work. She turned the phone over in her hands several times taking in what she could.

"What do you see, Naoto?"

She glanced up to him shyly but cleared her throat looking back down on at the phone.

"You take good care of it. The shell casing is in very good condition so you don't drop or damage it very often. You keep it in a pocket without anything else away from keys and loose change"

"Good. But you can go deeper than that. Try again"

She turned it to the charge port to examine the condition.

"You change it quite frequently. Possibly every night or morning like clockwork..."

She examined the headset jack.

"You don't' use it to listen to music. You keep a screen protector on it at all times."

"Good…but…"

She didn't know what else to say. Then an idea crossed her mind and she turned the screen off and then back on. There was no password required to get into his phone.

"You are the only one that handles this phone so you keep it unprotected. It's never far enough from you for you to worry about it…..it's always on?"

"Always"

"This phone means a lot to you as a product of your professionalism and business…"

"Which means…"

"You only hand it to those you trust…"

He took the phone from her and turned the screen off, slipping it back into his pocket. They had been standing quietly in the elevator with the doors open to the first floor for a few minutes, no doubt blocking the traffic for other elevator users. Naoto stepped off, followed quickly by Sebastian.

"Naoto…"

She paused in her stride to look at him.

"Would you care to come to dinner tonight? Say around…eightish? If that's not too late for you"

She froze at the offer

"T-tonight?"

"Yes tonight"

She felt her face begin to burn and looked down to the ground. On the one hand she needed to spy on him; on the other hand, she hadn't had a good home cooked meal in months. And he had claimed he was a good cook. Good enough to invite Dojima and Nanako to his house for dinner tomorrow night.

"U-umm"

"I'll be making beef stew"

Beef stew. Home made no less. Not that store bought stuff in a can.

"I am afraid I must decline. I am already preoccupied tonight"

He wasn't convinced.

"Are you?"

He knew there was too long of a pause in her response before she nodded her head.

"I am afraid I am already busy with duties for the chief. I hope you understand"

He could taste copper in his mouth from the lie, but if that is how Naoto wanted to play then so be it.

"Very well Detective. Should you wish to reconsider, you need only ask"

"Thank you for the offer Sebastian"

He nodded his head and walked past her, heading into the store

"S-Sebastian"

He turned to look at her

"You're going the wrong way"


	12. Chapter 12

Carrots, check.

Potatoes, check

Stew meat grade meat….little harder to obtain, but check

Onion, check

Garlic, check

Beef bouillon, check

Salt would most likely already be at the house

Worcestershire sauce, check

Sugar would be at the house

Paprika….better get some just in case.

Milk, eggs, cheese, butter, a thick French loaf, and red wine.

Sebastian looked into his little cart over his ingredients and groceries. He didn't want to have to walk down the six or so blocks back here should he get home and forget his things. That would have been embarrassing.

Naoto walked quietly alongside him. Occasionally he would ask a question of where something was and she would tell him, but other than that, she simply stayed quiet.

"A can of beer…damn…"

"Is beer necessary for a stew, Sebastian?"

"You don't have much knowledge of cooking, do you detective?"

She grumbled quietly to herself.

"I normally eat out or have food delivered. Or prepared for me"

"And yet you decline my invitation for a home cooked meal. To each his own, I suppose. When cooking with beer, the heat evaporates the alcohol but keeps the flavor. So the taste of a good flavored beer is essential for the meal. Beer is not necessary, but it does make it taste better. And personally, I don't like beer. But I love cooking with it."

Naoto put her hand on the cart and steered him towards where the alcohol was sold in the grocery department of Junes, off towards the tall coolers. The array of beverages made him physically uneasy. He had never tasted….most of these. The only brand he was familiar with on the wall was Asahi, but did he really want to be that bland in his decision and choose the only beer he was familiar with and had cooked with before at home in his dish?

"My my…how adventurous do I feel?"

"Naoto-kun!"

Naoto turned her head and a small smile crept up her face as Yosuke walked from down one of the isles. Right, he was working an earlier shift lately.

"Hello Yosuke"

Sebastian remained staring at the wall of beverages, his eyes skimming over the titles and sizes of the cans and colors…oh the colors!

"What are you doing here this early?"

Naoto cleared her throat and indicated Sebastian who had turned to observe

"Yosuke Hanamura, this is Detective Sebastian Chastity. My partner for the duration of my investigation."

Yosuke smiled at the man as he extended his hand. Yosuke rubbed and wiped his hand on his apron and extended his hand to the man, shaking it firmly.

"Is he causing you any trouble, Naoto-kun?"

With his small smile, Sebastian shook his head.

"I can understand you just fine, Mr. Hanamura"

Yosuke gave a sheepish smile as he rubbed the back of his head

"Sorry"

"Don't be. No one gets it on the first try. Tell me, do you drink?"

"From time to time"

"I'm looking for something with lots of flavor. Something that doesn't taste like you would find it on the side of the street"

Yosuke walked past him and grabbed a large silver can off the shelf and handed it to him.

"It doesn't taste like piss, if that's what you mean"

"I do. I'm trusting you Mr. Hanamura"

"Please call me, Yosuke. You're making me feel all adult. Ick. So, where are you from?"

"The west. Here to help your detective on his investigation. I would prefer to wrap it up quickly and be out of everyone's hair"

"Are they giving you trouble at the station?"

"They are indeed"

"Well don't sweat it. They gave Naoto lots of trouble at first"

"Did they now? What for?"

"Size, age, determination, age, the particular handling of the case, size"

Naoto kicked Yosuke in the side of the leg which caused his knee to buckle and he leaned down to grab it, rubbing the spot she kicked

"Ow! That really hurt Naoto!"

"Yosuke! Did you say Nao-chan is here?"

Teddie poked his head out from behind a small enclosed section of vegetables across from the coolers of alcohol. He had been sleeping among the produce again. How he was never fired Naoto would never know.

On eye contact with Sebastian, Teddie felt his teeth pull back to expose themselves to him. Sebastian felt a growl escape his lips and he abandoned his cart, feeling his own teeth expose themselves. Yosuke completely forgot about his leg and watched the two with Naoto as Teddie and Sebastian approached one another. Teddie's hands clenched to fists and Sebastian's opened and curved like claws as they sized one another up. Yosuke was afraid there was going to be a fight.

The two approached one another swiftly but upon reaching a close distance, they slowed down. Teddie let loose an audible murr as he stood face to face with Sebastian, looking up at him. Sebastian couldn't help himself. The growl in his head was loud and he could feel it in his body, almost threatened by this boy. He made a note later to speak with it about this. Finally Teddie's lips pulled back over his teeth and he leaned into Sebastian's neck, sniffing at him.

Yosuke felt his head fall to the side as he watched Teddie with this stranger. Naoto was busy watching Sebastian as he did the same, sniffing along Teddie's head and shoulders several times. They stared at one another, Teddie letting loose a quiet murr while Sebastian growled quietly at him. Teddie spoke first, his voice low and quiet.

"I like you"

Sebastian spoke regardless of the growl in his throat

"I like you too"

"Wanna be my friend?"

"…Sure. Would you like to come over for dinner on Thursday?"

"…sure…can Yosuke come too?"

"I can always make more"

"Thursday it is then"

"Sixish?"

"I'll be there"

"Good"

They leaned away from one another and Sebastian returned to his shopping cart, smiling his little smile at the confused two. He looked to Naoto.

"I'm going to go back home now detective. You are relieved until tomorrow I suppose when we go to take a look at the body in the morgue. If you wish, my offer for dinner is still available. Text me"

Naoto just stood there still confused, unable to grasp ahold of what had just happened. Whatever it was that had happened. Sebastian smiled at Yosuke again.

"It was nice meeting you Yosuke. I hope to see you Thursday night for dinner. Wear a nice shirt"

Yosuke was quiet as he watched Sebastian leave. Teddie joined the two of them waving to his new friend.

"Dude, what the hell?"

"What?"

"What do you mean 'what?' what the hell was all that about?"

Teddie looked just as confused as Naoto did now.

"What? It's an animal thing Yosuke. We're always afraid of other animals taking what belongs to us"

"…THAT DOESN'T EVEN MAKE SENSE!"

Naoto tried to be the voice of reason.

"Teddie, what did you two just do?"

"We sized each other up Nao-chan. That's what animals do"

"I'm afraid I don't understand"

"I see that. But that's all I can really say. There is something beary strange about that man. I have never acted that way around someone before"

"Do you mean you felt something odd about him?"

"It's his smell"

Naoto's job was to spy on this man and find out more about him. What was it Teddie had felt in his scent?

"Tell me Teddie"

"I can't put my finger on it. But it's…different. Complex. Like there is something inside of him covering up his scent. He smelt…different. That's all I can say"

Naoto sighed heavily.

"I am going to head back to the station for my ride. I need to get home and maybe get some sleep before tonight"

Yosuke finally pried his eyes off Teddie

"Why? What's tonight?"

Naoto thought fast

"Oh. Just some work for one of my superiors."

"Well don't stress yourself out too much. By the way, does Sebastian know….?"

"I don't think so"

"Ok. We'll keep it quiet then"

"Thank you, you two"

"Don't burn yourself out Nao-chan. You know how you get when you're on a case"

Naoto nodded and said goodbye to her friends before leaving the store, buying a few small packs of tea on the way out. She needed to get home and get some sleep. The next few weeks with the detective would prove to be interesting.

Sebastian turned his laptop on the counter he was cooking on, reading off the recipe he had on the screen, following it exactly and ignoring what he knew was nonsense. He took his time in his food, knowing how much he and the voice in his head loved to eat. On one occasion he had gone to a doctor afraid he had Prader-Willi syndrome, a disease wherein a person felt hungry all the time. He did have an almost insatiable hunger and ate a lot when it came time to eat, but he was able to control it. Whether it be will-power or a ridiculous notion he had the disease, it had turned out he didn't have it. So in the end he had considered that a win.

Naoto lay prone on the grass at the top of the hill with her little silver binoculars pressed against her eyes as she watched him in the kitchen. She had slept late into the afternoon and only had time for a shower when she woke up. She should have been up earlier to get prepared for the night, but her bed had been too comfortable and she hadn't slept in the last few days. It seemed only appropriate that the crash had hit her so hard. Sebastian cracked the can of beer Yosuke had suggested to him and took a sip of it. His face had the look of 'it's ok' before he poured it all into the pot he was cooking in. Her stomach grumbled with hunger and she began to chew on her tongue to ignore it. The stew looked lovely from where she was. She had wanted to take him up on his offer, but she had a job to do. When it really boiled down to it, she didn't know what she was expecting to learn from this. That he doesn't watch TV? That he talks to himself constantly? That he enjoys cooking? It wasn't as though he was going to shed his skin and fly away or invite rogue government officers to his house. This wasn't some bad spy novel she had read. When she really thought about it, the task seemed meaningless.

After watching him for almost forty-five minutes she began to get really bored. But it was her job. She had to stick to it. The chief was expecting a report in the morning when they went in to take a look at one of the bodies and she wanted to have something.

Sebastian took a spoonful of the stew cooking on the stove and drew it to his lips, smiling when the growl in his head let out a murr.

"Good?"

"Good"

Sebastian took a large white bowl from the cupboard and filled it with the stew, setting it aside. He cut a large chunk off the French loaf and put a layer of butter on it before setting it inside his bowl. He reached for where he assumed the utensils were kept and opened the drawer. Wrong one. He opened another slowly, praying there were forks and knives inside. There were several pairs of chopsticks, but he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the glinting steel of the silverware. It had been one of his biggest fears since he got home that he would have to walk all the way back to Junes to pick some disposable ones. He was unfamiliar with the contents of cupboards and drawers of a Japanese kitchen. Or maybe he had just been lucky with this house to actually have forks and knives.

He made his way with his bowl and silverware to the kitchen table and sat down, slipping the napkin he had grabbed under his silverware. He had taken his jacket off when he had returned home and simply rolled up his sleeves before he began to cook. He was a clean cook, spilling nothing on his nice black dress shirt or dark red tie. He dipped the spoon into the stew and drew it to his lips but stopped as he opened his mouth. The voice in his head let out a deep growl.

"We're hungry!"

"I know…but I feel like I'm being rude…"

Sebastian sighed and set his spoon down, pushing himself up from his seat. He pulled his cellphone from his pocket and punched in a text before pressing send and slipping it back into his pocket. Naoto pulled the blanket a little further over her head so only her binoculars stuck out from the material. Why wasn't he eating? She knew he had a hunger, but why wasn't he eating? Was he just to discard it now? He moved into the kitchen and pulled down a second bowl from the shelf and filled it with the stew, taking another thick slice off the loaf, buttering it, setting it in the stew, and bringing it to the table on the other end. Was he expecting company? Someone he had seen on the way home? Perhaps someone else from the office he had bumped into on the way out. Then he opened the sliding back door to the porch and sat back down at the table, sitting quietly. Her phone buzzed.

She looked away from her binoculars and pulled her cellphone from her pocket, straining to look at the bright screen in the darkness of the shroud. It was from him.

'Hungry? Y/N'

She had failed again to keep a low profile. Was it the lenses of her binoculars? Was that what had given her away? No. she had been very careful in this. How did he know? She felt her jaw tense up in anger. She was trying to do her job but he was picking up on her too fast. Is this what people felt about her? Angry she was always one or two steps ahead of them? The anger was quickly overcome and swept away by her embarrassment again. She really didn't think she could be careful around him. He was just going to keep catching her. More disturbing, how long had he known? She threw the blanket off of her, making her slow decent down the small hill.

Sebastian sat quietly, hands folded on the table as he waited, staring at the stew. He could feel his arms trying to reach for it through the influence of the voice but he kept them down. The voice in his head didn't have a will of its own to control him, but it certainly fueled a desire and want. Like an addiction. He turned his head only slightly with his small smile as Naoto appeared from the blackness outside. He looked at the clock. 8:15.

"Good evening, Detective"

Naoto said nothing as she leaned down to take her boots off before stepping inside the house, closing the door behind her. She had her hat pulled down over her eyes. He was getting tired of that. As if it shielded her in some way. But he supposed that it brought her comfort. She sat down quietly at the end of the table, looking down at the meal, her stomach aching for it as the smell reached up and pushed her senses over the edge with its delightful scent.

"There is no need to be shy, Naoto."

She only slightly looked up to him.

"You must be hungry. Please, eat"

She reached to grasp her spoon, drawing it into the stew and bring it up to her mouth. It was delicious. She was surprised with its quality and flavor. Beef stew wasn't something she had often, but now she had no idea why. This was delicious. Thick chunks of beef, potato and carrot in its sauce with small strips of onion and minced garlic. It was cooked just right and the meat fell apart against her tongue. She ate another mouthful, then another, and by the time she realized it, she had already eaten her bowlful and began to devour the thick slice of bread and butter he had prepared for her. Her meal was done. Had she eaten it that fast? She looked up to him but saw him only smiling at her as he leaned over his bowl, still steaming. It would seem she too had a hunger. He cleared his throat.

"Would you care for another bowl, Shirogane?"

She looked back down to her legs and nodded her head, to embarrassed to really speak after first being caught and then devouring the meal he had prepared for them both. He stood from his seat and took her bowl into the kitchen, filling it back up. He turned to her.

"More bread?"

"Y…..yes please"

He cut another slab for her and turned the little electric kettle on near the microwave to boil the water inside. He set her bowl back in front of her and sat back down at his seat, taking his first mouthful. She ate quickly and quietly at her delicious meal. It had been forever since she had tasted a decent home cooked meal that didn't come out of a Styrofoam box.

The loud click in the kitchen caused her to look up as he stood to attend to it.

"Are you thirsty, Naoto? I bought tea. I have blackberry and chocolate mint."

"Blackberry…please"

Sebastian's phone rang as he prepared the tea. He slipped it from his pocket and checked the number. Naoto watched his shoulders slump as he sighed, observing his movements. He answered it.

"I told you to text me"

…

"I don't care what they are offering. I want them"

…

"I'm sorry. I zoned out for a moment. How much?"

…

"Are they out of their fucking mind?!"

Naoto jumped in her seat when he yelled, feeling her chest and back tighten up. He was scary when he was angry.

"So this is bribe money then?"

…

Sebastian leaned forward onto the counter and let his phone fall to his side as he rubbed his forehead, cursing quietly in English. She didn't know the word he used.

"Fine…fine. Wire them the money from my account."

…

"Yes…yes OK. Wait. Before you go and send them the money, give them the warning that if this comes back to me, I will skin them alive."

….

"Then let them sue me"

He hung up his phone and took a moment to himself, running his free hand through his hair as he tried to relax and he slipped his phone into his pocket. What a waste. He prepared his and Naoto's tea and brought her her cup, setting it on the table beside her stew. She had stopped eating, physically uncomfortable with what had just transpired.

"Did I ruin your appetite, Shirogane?"

She was quiet, sipping at her tea. It was lovely.

"I apologize for that. I have trouble controlling my temper sometimes"

"What was that all about?"

He pushed his bowl of stew away having lost his own appetite and sipped quietly at his cup.

"I would appear that the nice people at one of our victims offices are a little greedy. They refused to hand over their paperwork for the investigation without a court order. With that in mind…"

"…you couldn't get a court order for a murder taking place in another country."

"So they wanted something to grease the wheels."

"Which was?"

"20,000"

Naoto choked on her tea and coughed a few times.

"20,000 dollars?"

Sebastian nodded, growling quietly as he took a sip of his tea.

"Do you have that much to spare?"

"I have plenty to spare, Naoto"

Naoto was quiet for a moment. He was honest. So she asked what she was thinking.

"Are you rich?"

Sebastian smiled. She was catching on.

"In a sense. When my parents died I was well taken care of. I have always had more than my fare share and more than I wanted."

So…he lost his parents as well. She didn't want to prod at him. But he could see she was curious.

"You can ask, Naoto…"

"You could just tell me…"

Sebastian set his cup down, folding his hands on the table

"My parents died in a plane crash when I was four. They were doctors. Special doctors. They made it their duty to go about and work with specific clients in different countries. They were…umm…rich people doctors. And they were very well regarded. So when they died on a business trip, I was set up."

"I'm sorry for your loss. How..how were you set up?"

"Well, life insurance pays off triple if one dies on a business trip. Most people are ensured, at least I am and a lot of people I know, at one million dollars. Insurance value goes up for certain people because they are worth more and or what kind of plan they pay into. So my parents were valued at around three million a piece before the business trip insurance addition was in place. So you do the math"

She had never sat at a table with someone like him. He had money. Lots of it. But…it was a very unfortunate set of circumstances that he came to it. Money or not, he had lost his parents. Much like her. Only she never got anything to dull the pain. Or was his pain really dulled? Her eyes crossed his tie again.

"That chain of yours belonged to your father?"

He smiled.

"It was my mother's actually. I don't remember much, but when I think back to it I think my dad was much simpler."

She stared down at her cup and into the purple brown water inside of it, looking at her reflection. She couldn't remember much of her parents.

"You suffered the same fate…didn't you, Naoto…"

She didn't like opening up, but he had been brave enough to.

"...Car accident."

He was quiet for a moment

"Would you like something a little stronger to drink?"

"God yes"

He stood from his seat and took her tea from her and headed to the kitchen to open the bottle of red wine he had bought. If she didn't like the taste of it, she probably would have drunk it out of sheer politeness. He pulled the cork and filled two mugs, disappointed that the owner of the house had no wine glasses. What a shame.

"Tell me about yourself, Naoto. I'm intrigued."

She took a sip of the wine he offered. It was ok. She wasn't a drinker, but it helped with the way the conversation was going.

The evening continued on. Naoto talked about herself in small chunks. Growing up without parents and having to be raised by her grandfather, the Shirogane estate and lineage, the troubles she had gone through with the police in the town, and even going into the case from two years ago. She had been honest but had skipped over her persona, the TV world, the shadows, and her being a woman. Sebastian just sat there and listened quietly. Eventually they had gone through the bottle and had gone back to tea.

Somewhere in the middle, the conversation had switched to stories being swapped between her cases and his. She found herself leaning on her fist, listening intently to one of his stories.

"So when she entered the room at 9 am the following day-"

"Oh no…"

"-this red paint was all over her"

"What a horrible way to start the morning…."

"But she was wearing that jacket I told you about"

Naoto felt her mouth fall open.

"The coat was ruined. Ten thousand dollars just gone down the drain"

She found herself laughing and brought the back of her hand to her mouth, trying to stifle the small giggles that came from her. Sebastian smiled a little brighter. He liked her laugh.

"Naoto"

She took a sip of her tea, looking at him, letting out a little noise to ensure him she was listening.

"Who hurt you?"

The smile on her face faded almost instantly and she found herself looking down at the table, biting the inside of her lower lip. He shook his head.

"Never mind. Never mind. No point going into that. A talk for another time perhaps when I have given you reason to trust me. No point ruining a good evening."

He looked at the clock.

"My god look at the time"

Naoto broke from her upset trance, images of Souji running through her head and the time they spent together. The kisses he placed on her skin and the way he felt with her arms wrapped tightly around him. She could almost feel the folds and bends of the muscles of his back. She looked at the clock. Four am. She sighed and ran her hands along her face looking down at her watch.

"I better get home."

"You can stay here if you like, Naoto. We'll be heading to work at the same time anyway. You could take my bed"

She felt her skin flush red.

"You can take my bed and I'll take the couch."

It was late, it was dark, it was cold, and she had been drinking. She might as well stay here.

"I'll take the couch, Sebastian"

They hadn't been standing in several hours and it felt like a chore to the both of them. Sebastian looked into the kitchen at the pile of dishes and ignored them. He could do them tomorrow after he stopped off at Junes to grab tomorrow night's dinner. Dojima and his daughter tomorrow night and Yosuke and Teddie the night after. He was busy.

Naoto stood from her seat and moved for the couch, flopping back onto it. Sebastian brought her an extra blanket from the bedroom and handed it to her. She took her jacket off, bundling it up for a pillow.

"I'll be in the next room if you need anything, Naoto. The thermostat is…somewhere in here. If it gets cold, just turn it up."

She nodded her head and unfolded the blanket, turning to lie on the couch and pulling the blanket up to her neck and drawing her legs up. She waited until he turned the lights off to remove her hat. She would have to put it back on before he got up tomorrow.

"Detective Chastity?"

He opened the door to his room, but stood in the doorway.

"Shirogane?"

"Why didn't you say anything about me spying on you?"

"Because it would be rude to cause unnecessary confrontation"

"I see. How long did you know?"

"I had a suspicion last night I was being watched. But when I saw you at work this morning you had grass on your jacket. There were a few other small details but the grass on the upper part of your jacket kind of gave it away for me"

She was quiet for a moment.

"I'm sorry"

"No you're not. Good morning, Detective."

He closed the door behind him and she let out a long sigh. She wasn't sorry. She was doing her job. She really needed to work on being honest around him. He could see through her. It made her uneasy and she really needed to work on exactly how to speak to him. From what she had gathered, she needed to be honest with him. Or he would possibly resent her over her lies. And if she wanted to know anything about him…she would just ask… She rolled over onto her other side, staring at the back of the couch. It had been almost 48 hours with this detective. What was tomorrow to bring? Would he really make a difference?

"Good night, Sebastian…"


	13. Chapter 13

"Welcome to the velvet room"

Sebastian opened his eyes slowly to the car he sat in. The velvet room. How long had it been? Three? Four years? He looked down to his own body, running his hands along the deep blue velvet suit he wore and reached up to fix his tie.

"Do not worry, you are fast asleep"

Sebastian's eyed up the man sitting at the far end of the vehicle, hands in crisp gloves folded gently under his long nose. His large eyes peered at Sebastian with a smile from ear to ear. Under any normal circumstances, people would have found the hunched balding man frightening, but Sebastian only found him irritating.

Sebastian smiled as his eyes glanced over to the silver haired woman sitting beside the man, her hands folded neatly on the large purple book in her lap just above the hem of her blue suit.

"Hello again, Margaret"

The woman's golden eyes looked over to him and she tried to suppress a smile but was unable too. She drew her slender hand up to her mouth, covering it until she was able to will it away and returned to her professional manner. He smiled at her a little brighter and he winked.

"So you did miss me"

He leaned forward in his seat to the long bar built into the side of the vehicle and moved to his knees. He squatted down and took several ice cubes from one of the ice buckets and placed them in his glass before popping the top on one of the bottles of amber liquid, pouring it into his glass.

"Igor…"

"Sebastian."

"I would say you have about three minutes before we have trouble. So make it fast…please"

Sebastian fell back into his seat, fixing his tie again and taking a drink of the beverage. He sighed and wanted to pour it out on the seat. It tasted like nothing.

"If this is a dream as you say, then he is already on the move to stop this vehicle. So let's not waste my time. Bullet point what you want to say."

The long nosed man smiled a little wider, though Sebastian thought it impossible.

"You are embarking on something very dangerous, Sebastian"

"Well six are dead. So I would assume it's dangerous"

"You will need help"

"Not from you I won't"

Margaret cleared her throat, interjecting.

"Our help can be very useful"

"I'm sure it can, darling, but I don't want your help. Like every other time, I can handle it"

"Not like this you can't"

"Then I will adapt"

He took another sip of his drink out of habit. Margaret sighed.

"Still as stubborn as ever"

He winked and tipped his drink to her before taking another sip.

"So tell me, Igor, why come to me now? Why not a week ago when I got wind of this case?"

"You asked not to be bothered by us again…"

"And here we are. So I'll say it again, don't bother me. I am not to be some sort of savior, soldier, or pawn. I want to be left alone to work"

"But you want to work with your new partner…"

"**That **is none of your god damn business…"

He tilted his glass and drank the rest of his beverage, setting the glass down on the car bar from whence it came.

"…and so far I have been having a great time with myself. So please…"

"Tomorrow will come with a grave revelation"

"Ooo. I love surprises"

Margaret clenched her hands into fists, her jaw tightening

"Why won't you take this seriously? We're trying to help you"

"The last time you tried to help me I ended up in a hospital bed with my spine almost in two."

"And if you haven't taken our advice you would be dead."

"**That** is yet to be seen. Now if you will excuse me…"

Margaret pushed herself tightly against the back wall and Igor fell forward onto the table in front of him as the car's breaks were hit hard causing the car to lurch forward with its own momentum. It skidded for a few moments before crashing into something on its path. Or rather, something had crashed into it. There was a loud snarl outside the car as well as banging and ripping of metal followed by growls and the thumping of heavy legs.

Sebastian scooted over to the door and bumped his fist against the glass twice before the car door was opened for him. The creature that had stopped the car had opened the door for him. He straightened his tie and ran his hands through his hair before leaning down into the car, staring down its length at the two.

"If I need anything, I'll text you. Until that time, piss off. Drive safely"

He closed the car door, leaving him alone with the creature as the car drove off into the blackness.

"What do you think big guy? Think we should have taken their advice?"

He pulled his cellphone from his pocket and looked in the reflection of the animal's long fangs as it walked up behind him, towering over him. It snarled and snapped its jaws. Sebastian sighed.

"If things get bad I can't imagine the apology they will be looking for."

He slipped his cellphone back into his pocket and hooked his finger along the neckline of his tie, loosening it and opening the top button of his light blue shirt. He hated this suit and was thankful he only had to wear it on the rare occasion.

"Hungry, big guy?"

The animal growled.

"Breakfast it is then. Wake me up"

The beast behind him let out a tremendous roar that shook Sebastian to his core. Pain, anguish and sorrow radiated from the noise it made. Sebastian smiled even though tears began to run down his cheeks and the world came flooding back to him as he leaned up abruptly in bed. He looked around having forgotten where he was before he slumped back down on his sheets and put both his hands over his face. They felt wet. He rubbed his palms under his eyes to wipe away the tears, sniffing the rest back and biting his tongue to replace the emotional pain with physical pain. It worked.

He leaned up in bed and pulled the blankets from him, throwing his legs over the edge of the futon. He enjoyed sleeping naked but he enjoyed wearing a good suit even more. So he pried himself up to stand and stretched. The sun was coming up through the blinds. He checked his watch on the nightstand. 9 Am. He had had a decent night's sleep.

"Thanks for not waking me up"

"It's harder with the detective around"

"Good. Keep them close. Maybe I can return to being normal again."

The voice in his head let out a quiet growl as he made his way to the closet and set out his cloths for the day. Breakfast. He could make it for Naoto as well. Eggs and toast. Or Eggie in the basket. Eggie in the basket sounded nice. He would do dishes when he got home from the autopsy. What a concept: cutting open a body, grocery shopping, and dinner with a co-worker and his family. His day was already planned out for him. He would have to take Thursday to himself when he got his files from his superior back home. His phone buzzed but he ignored it.

He wanted to make a good impression today and had taken out one of his best suits. He slipped on his white shirt and buttoned it up before throwing on his slacks and a pair of black socks. He slipped a blue and silver tie around his neck, pulling it tightly against his throat. He would put on his jacket after breakfast, but in the meantime slipped on his silver watch and his small gold chain around his tie. He tucked his shirt into his slacks.

As he made his way from the bedroom he paused in the doorway, feeling a smile stretch from ear to ear when he saw the detective on the couch, blanket pulled up to their mouth, knees pulled to their chest, and their hair across their cheek and shoulder. He leaned against the wall and took a moment to absorb the image into his head while the voice in his head, quiet and distant, murred, also appreciating the sight.

"Soak it in, big guy."

He stood for a minute, then two, then three until he finally walked to the kitchen, saving the image to memory. He wanted to cook quietly. Nothing was better than being woken up to breakfast being made. He set a pan on high heat and prepared the meal. He sliced four thick slices of the loaf he had bought and took a glass from the cupboard, twisting the cup in the center of the bread to cut a hole in the middle. He pulled the bread disk from the middle of the glass and did the same with the other three slices before dropping them into the pan to let them brown.

When he was done letting them brown, he cracked an egg into the middle of the hole to let the egg cook. He glanced from his spot into the living room where Naoto began to stir. At the sudden panic the detective showed, he turned his back to Naoto as she pulled back her hair into a ponytail and pulled her hat on. He had woken up before her.

She wondered what he had seen and stood up quietly to stretch before making her way to the table.

"Good morning, Naoto"

"Good morning"

"I'll try to keep it quick today so you can get home and shower before you return to your hill tonight."

He turned to look at her. Her shirt was wrinkled and her bow was off center. He should take her to get a better suit in town.

"Who says I'm spying on you tonight?"

"You were thinking about it"

She was quiet for a moment before sighing.

"I was."

"But you know all you need to do is ask"

"I do"

"Hungry?"

"Famished"

"Sit"

He slid two of the slices of bread onto a plate and brought it to her with a knife and fork. She stared down at the dish with a small smile on her face.

"It's very clever, Sebastian"

"Something I saw in a movie when I was a kid. My dad made it once, I think"

"Was he the cook?"

"He was."

He brought her a glass of milk and she nodded her head at him in thanks, her mouth too full to say her thank you. He followed quickly with his plate, sitting on the other side of the table.

"Keep your Saturday open. We're going out on a date"

Naoto felt her face flush again and she choked on a piece of the bread.

"Ex-"

She coughed.

"E-excuse me?"

He leaned forward, showing her he was serious.

"I consider you an extension of me on this case. And personally, I like to keep my public image and public opinion of me rather high. So you and I are going shopping. Get you something nice to wear. Something more expensive. Visual representation is important. Why do you think I wear suits all the time and not a cheap dress shirt and jeans? I look good in a suit. So I want my partner to look good. But keep the hat. I love that thing"

She had misunderstood what he had been referring to and relaxed inside. At the same time…had he just insulted her taste in clothes? Sebastian noticed the realization.

"No"

"No what?"

"I wasn't insulting you"

She sighed but just kept eating.

"I hate it when you do that"

"You'll get used to it. That or you could stop wearing your thoughts on your face so obviously."

After breakfast they walked to work together, talking a little more than the day before about themselves to one another. His time with relatives after his parents passed away, his academic career, his work with his company, and even divulging a little information about his personal alone time playing his violin and the piano at the bar at home.

At the same time, she talked about her work with the Inaba police, the case she worked on two years ago and some of the finer details of the case even though she dodged several key points he would have found ridiculous. She spoke of her grandfather raising her and the little games he would play with her to help her along her way as a detective. They made him laugh. She told him about the gadgets she had made as a child which made him laugh harder. She liked his laugh. He didn't laugh often and normally just smiled his little smile. So it felt good to laugh again.

When the finally arrived at the station he stopped and adjusted his tie and ran his hands down the sleeves of his jacket.

"How do I look?"

"Good"

He ran his hands through his hair making it a little messy before they walked into the station. He wasn't going to hold his breath for a hello from a fellow officer. He led the way this time towards the chief's office.

The man sat there in front of a small stack of paperwork of different colors. Sebastian didn't knock and instead just opened the door. Naoto had the feeling Sebastian didn't like the chief. She had to admit, he was a little difficult for first impressions with strangers. The man looked up to Sebastian and Naoto and stood from his seat.

"Detective Chastity. Detective Shirogane"

Naoto bowed her head.

"Sir"

The man offered his hand to Sebastian who took it, shaking firmly. Sebastian sat down in the chair in front of the man's desk whereas Naoto walked up beside him, her hand resting on the chair. The chief took a moment to look at the two.

"You two look very professional together"

Sebastian looked up to her and she looked away and down, placing her hands behind her back. She was looking down, but Sebastian was below her. She couldn't help but steel a glance at his smiling face and she felt a small smile move across her own.

"What do you have for me, chief?"

"Our man is in the morgue right now waiting for you two, Detective Chastity. Will you need to know the way?"

"I'm sure Detective Shirogane can show me, Sir. What about my other requests?"

The man opened the top drawer to his desk and pulled out a set of keys, sliding them across the table.

"Came in this morning from the town over. One of their men is in the hospital so they had a ghost to spare."

"Is it serious?"

"Broken shoulder. He will be out for a few weeks. Think you can solve the case by then? I would hate to take your transportation from you mid investigation…"

Sebastian smiled at the man.

"Why are you being nice to me all of a sudden, Sir?"

He was quiet for a moment. Naoto watched Sebastian devour the man's facial expressions like a beast, peeling back what he tried to hide layer by layer. No matter how…frightened…the look in Sebastian's eyes was, she wanted to do it too. She wanted to know how to remove someone's barriers through something as simple as an eye twitch. She said nothing.

"Because I want to work with you, Detective…I…I don't…"

Naoto was surprised. The chief knew what Sebastian was doing and understood very quickly there was no need to hide or no way to hide from his man in front of him. He began to trip over his own tongue and Sebastian turned to look at his partner.

"Would you give us a moment, Naoto? Sixty seconds?"

She sighed, not wanting to be cut out of the loop but nodded her head.

"I'll start counting once the door closes…"

Sebastian waited for the door to close behind her before turning his attention back to the man in front of him. He could see the desperation in the man's eyes and felt a string of sympathy being plucked inside of him. This was his job. That look in the man's eyes was why he was here. Although he wasn't wanted, he was happy to know it was where he was needed.

"I don't have anything, Detective"

"I know"

"We need help"

"I know"

"I don't want my town to become some place known for the dead simply appearing"

Sebastian leaned back in his seat and crossed his legs

"I want to help you, Sir. And I intend to. I don't know how much comfort it will bring you, but I want to assure you that I will fix this."

He took a moment to study the man's face

"You haven't slept have you…?"

The man was quiet but looked down to his desk, shaking his head.

"Are you married, sir?"

He nodded his head.

"Two children. Married for five years"

Sebastian smiled a bit. He wanted kids.

"Take the day off, Sir. Go home to your children and wife. Get some sleep and come back tomorrow."

Sebastian stood up, buttoning up the jacket of his suit.

"I'm here to help. So relax. I'll do what I can"

The man smiled up to him in a cheeky grin.

"You aren't all that bad, Detective Chastity"

"I'm terrible, sir"

Sebastian stepped outside the man's office, Naoto turning to him.

"What did you say to him?"

Sebastian looked back into the office to watch his temporary superior slip on his jacket.

"To trust me"

He turned his attention back to Naoto, sniffing the air about her. He spoke as an observation.

"You smell really good this morning"

Naoto looked down and turned from him, leading them both down the halls to the morgue. She didn't know what he was trying to do. If it was to make her uncomfortable, it was working.

She opened the doors to the morgue after buttoning her coat up. He put his hands into his pockets as they entered the room. The younger man of which Naoto had seen before leaned against the wall playing on his cellphone. One of her bodies had been pulled from its case and had been moved earlier in the day onto an examination table. It was of their fifth victim, the young man from London: Donovan Alister. The man looked up from his phone, scanning over Sebastian.

"That is a lovely suit"

"The jacket was $4000. Sebastian Chastity"

"Pleasure"

He shook Sebastian's hand.

"You're lucky, Mr. Chastity, this guy gets shipped out Thursday morning"

"I don't need much time. What can you tell me about him?"

Sebastian pulled the back the sheet, exposing the man's naked body to the room. Naoto looked away from the pale body but felt herself lock onto Sebastian's eyes mid turn. They had that look again. Her want and crave to know how to do it forced her to turn back to the body and force her eyes to work and her mind to follow suit as she tried to do what he was doing. What was he looking for exactly?

"Whoa whoa. Show some respect."

Sebastian looked at the man.

"He is dead, sir. It is not as though he cares what happens to himself now."

The man backed off as Sebastian's eyes moved over his body. He took in the details of his muscles and the way they were formed. Lack of physical exercise and yet strong legs and shoulders. A sport perhaps? He ate more then he burned off and yet retained his normal shape. A game of running and shoulder work. Too old for football or hockey. Basketball. He smiled to himself and turned the man's palms over and spread the man's fingers. Basketball.

"Could I get a few minutes with my Partner?"

The man threw his arms up.

"It's your case"

Sebastian waited for the man to leave before he spoke.

"Well he's easy to get along with."

Sebastian reached over and grabbed Naoto by the arm, pulling her in front of him. He put his hands on Naoto's shoulders. She felt them rise in a slight defense but he gripped them tighter.

"What do you see, Detective"

"What are you-"

"-what do you see?"

Naoto looked back down to the body. Why had Sebastian touched his hands? She looked at the construction of the body.

"He plays sports. But not well."

"How can you tell?"

"Slight deformation of the knees to accept muscle growth. Calluses along the inside of his palms. Thick shoulders."

"Very good. What else can you tell me?"

Sebastian released her shoulders when he felt her lean in.

"We speak for the dead, Shirogane. Touch him"

He moved for the counter and pulled two pairs of rubber gloves from the little white box and handed her a pair. He slipped the other pair on while she slipped her own on. Her hands were a little hesitant as she reached down to touch the man's chest and running her fingers along the body. She felt a crease in the man's muscles and followed it.

"Physical trauma post mortem. The wires he was on"

"Good. But you can already do this. What does he tell you?"

"I don't understand the question"

He smiled and patted her on the back.

"I'll show you"

Sebastian examined the body of the man in front of him, opening his eyelids to the sunken spheres in his head. He ran his fingers along the muscles under his eyes, feeling their tightness in their particular manner. He reached over and grabbed Naoto's hand. She felt herself blush but shook it off. She needed to focus. It was time to work. He pressed her fingers under the man's eyes. Sebastian ran her fingers down the side of the man's face and along his cheek and jawline.

"Feel that?"

She did feel something

"What causes a person's face to make the muscles form like that?"

"…he was afraid"

"So…"

"He was aware of what was happening. It wasn't sudden. It took time…He…suffered"

Sebastian smiled and patted her on the shoulder. She turned to look at him. His face was very close to hers.

"When the time….**if** the time comes, Naoto, I am going to show you a trick that will get you what you want"

She couldn't look at him from this close, but she did respond without hesitation or stammer

"What do I want?"

"To see what I see…"

She bit the inside of her lower lip as he pulled himself from her and went to the door, knocking on it to signal to the coroner that he was wanted. The man returned and moved for the body after he put on a set of gloves.

"If you have a problem with this, Naoto, then turn away. Otherwise watch"

Naoto moved up alongside Sebastian. She was going to watch. She wanted to know his trick. Perhaps if he trusted her a little more he would show her.

The coroner set out his instruments and picked up his scalpel.

"Where do you want it?"

"Cut him down the middle. Open his skin up"

The coroner took a moment to assure the look on Sebastian's face before running the blade down the center of the man's body, opening his chest and stomach to expose ribs and muscle and intestines. Naoto bit her tongue hard enough to taste copper to prevent herself from gagging or turning away. Sebastian glanced to her before looking back at the body.

"Open him up"

"He's open"

"Pull the skin back"

"Excuse me?"

"I want you to pull his skin back. I want to see between the layers of his skin"

"Why?"

"I have a theory"

"Which is?"

"None of your business"

The man sighed angrily

"Look, If I-"

"-your job is to do as I tell you"

There was a moment of hostility between the two men that dragged on for a moment before Sebastian took the floor again.

"Pull the skin back or I will. And then I will have you removed…"

The man's jaw clenched and unclenched several times before he did as he was instructed. Sebastian watched as he fillet the man, separating the two halves of his skin and folding them open like a butterfly. Naoto had to turn away. She wasn't ready for this. Sebastian cleared his throat and looked up to the man.

"Thank you for your assistance. That will be all"

"I need to stitch him back up"

"And I will come to you when I need you to stitch him back up. Until then would you mind waiting outside?"

The coroner wasn't going to miss an opportunity to get away from this man as he pulled off his gloves and threw them into the trash. When he pushed the door open, it flew outward and banged into the wall as he pushed past.

Sebastian looked down at the skin and leaned in close, examining it, the meat almost touching his nose. He sniffed at it several times. Naoto kept her back turned as she spoke, not wanting to look at the man again as she cursed her memory and tried to erase the image in her head.

"What are you looking for?"

"Get me a UV light, detective"

"What are you-"

"Now, Shirogane"

She took a quick glance around. This was an area used by the coroners to examine a body. There had to be a tube around her somewhere. She found one under a shelf in the corner of the room and brought it back to Sebastian. He flicked it on and the bulb began to hum. He was hesitating. She looked at his face and did her best to figure out what he was thinking. The way his jaw shifted forward and he bit down on his tongue. The way his eyes stared at the exposed flesh, the tightness in his other hand. He wanted to be proven wrong. But what was his theory?

Sebastian took a deep breath and spoke quietly as he raised his arm up to cast the light over the body.

"Please please please please"

The light turned up nothing out of the ordinary. No discoloration or vibrant colors. Sebastian's arm dropped to his side as he breathed a sigh of relief and let out a small chuckle, rubbing the upper section of his nose as he laughed. Naoto didn't get it but she assumed his theory had been proven wrong.

"Well that's a relief"

"What?"

"Doesn't matter now. I was wrong"

The voice in his head let out a growl. The first noise it had made while being this close to Naoto and whatever rested on her shoulder.

"The neckline"

"What?"

Naoto stared confused at Sebastian

"What do you mean 'what?'?"

He shushed her and took a step away from her, talking to himself

"What did you say?"

The voice responded in kind.

"Check the neckline"

Sebastian turned back to the body and handed the light to Naoto before picking up the scalpel. Sebastian was not a surgeon or a coroner, but he would have to do the best he could as he cut the man's skin from the base of the neck about three inches down and tried to follow what the coroner had done by filleting the skin.

Then he saw it. The discoloration between the layers of skin.

"Keep the light on it, Naoto"

His voice was cold, almost angry as he worked, slowly shaving off layers of skin to get to his prize and proving the theory he had correct. He stood back to look at it when he was done butchering the body in front of him. Along the neckline of the man were two large dark purple circles. Bite marks. He felt his lips pull back to expose his teeth as a growl escaped his lips. He pulled his gloves off and tossed them into the bin. He needed air.

"Damn it"

Naoto stood quietly as he hurriedly left the room, drawing his cellphone from his picket and began punching in numbers. He wouldn't get any reception down here. She on the other hand stood and looked over the marks, reaching out to touch them. The skin was soft for this long into rigor mortis. The circles were large, almost the size of a thinner water bottle. How had he known where to look? Who had he been talking to? He knew something.

She set the light down and followed quickly after him. She found him in the parking lot on his cellphone, pacing back and forth. She wanted answers from him. He knew something she didn't.

"…yes I'm sure. I could smell it in his skin"

….

"It's going to keep happening then and I can't do anything about it unless you let me off my leash."

….

"There's blood in the water now…"

…

"I..."

…

"I understand, Sir. I'll take the necessary precautions."

…

"Thank you, Sir. I'll report back to you in a few days when I figure out more. But I need those files by tomorrow. It's only a matter of time now."

…

"Ok…ok…ok…ok. Keep in touch. Text me any updates. I have people coming for dinner tonight"

…

"Talk to you soon"

Naoto approached him, hands in her pockets. He slipped his phone back into his pocket.

"Would you mind getting me up to speed, Sebastian?"

"I would actually, Detective"

"Excuse me?"

"I can't use you for this case anymore. I'm sorry"

Cold ran through her body and caused her face and the back of her head to tingle.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I can't have you on this case with me anymore. I'll talk to your supervisor. Make sure you are compensated for your work with me."

She felt her stomach sink and her hands clench to fists. Her jaw clenched and she spoke from her teeth.

"I don't want compensation. I want to help"

"You can't help with this, Detective"

"I can help! I want to help!"

He was quiet for a moment as he looked at her. She almost shook with anger at the thought of being taken off this case. She could feel tears welling up in her eyes and she fought them back. This wasn't fair.

"I don't want my town to become a graveyard. I want to help stop this."

He approached her, tilting her head back and her hat to look into her eyes.

"You have a passion, Naoto. I envy this passion of yours. You want to fight and protect what's yours. I respect it."

"I'm not some child. I'm your partner"

"Were my partner…"

She leaned her head down when she felt her lip begin to tremble

"…tell me what you're hiding from me, Sebastian…"

He leaned closer to her and she looked up to him, his face close enough she could feel his breath against her skin. He had pretty eyes. His words sent a shock of fear through her body that smothered her anger and she felt her body stiffen. It replaced her anger with a feeling of fear she had been worried about since she first discovered his talent.

"You first…"

Her mouth opened but no words came out, just small noises indicating her desire to speak, but her fear held them back. She couldn't tell him. Couldn't tell him of her power. Couldn't tell him of her knowledge of the shadow world. She couldn't tell him about her persona or that she knew how the bodies got from one place to another and what beings put them there.

Her body shook with a fear and anger mixed twister. If she didn't tell him then she was out. If she did tell him he wouldn't believe her. She was stuck. She couldn't do anything. She felt one of her tears break lose and she brought her head down, the rim of her hat covering her eyes.

If he wasn't going to say anything, neither would she. His hand drew under her chin to raised it up and used his thumb to wipe her tear away. But there was no sympathy in those eyes of his. There was no smile. They were empty and void of emotion.

"When you are ready to come clean, text me. But If I feel that you are lying to me…I will shut you out. I will shut everyone out and abandon this case for myself."

He drew his hand back and turned his back on her, heading into the parking lot to find his ghost car.


	14. Chapter 14

And so time passed…

Sebastian never had his dinner with Dojima or his daughter. He never had his dinner with Teddie or Yosuke. He never went on his date with her to get a new uniform. He hadn't said a word or had left his house in three weeks and wasn't responding to any of her phone calls. He was true to his word and shut her out from the case.

The first place Sebastian had gone, after the realization of his, was home. He had drawn the blinds on the living room and bedrooms, secluding himself in the house. Naoto however had gone against his wishes and continued to spy on him. After the first week of nothing she was convinced he would slip up. After the second week she began to doubt that concept. And finally on the third week she had all but given up on trying to learn anything from outside the house.

She had knocked and banged on the door. She had screamed until she had lost her voice and struck the door enough times that the first aid attendant at work had believed she was going to break her fingers if she did it again. But even with her efforts, he wasn't going to show himself or let her in. She was out.

She had tried to get the chief to force Sebastian's hand. Why wouldn't that work? He was, after all, helping the police force to solve the case. **He** was an outsider where **she** was a resident. They were both detectives. Surely the chief could force Sebastian to explain what he was doing. But the man was being held back by his superiors.

Sebastian had known she would go to her superior the first chance she got, so he had gone three heads above him and convinced 'shadowy figure A' to let him be. With her superior, the only person she could go to, being held back, she was alone on this. She had lost.

Sebastian had left the house twice in the last three weeks and had been back shortly thereafter. He had food delivered to his house so he wouldn't be gone for a prolonged period of time. At one point, she was certain he watched her in return when he had come back with a large folder of documents that were no doubt the working records of the six victims they had previously. She wasn't expecting to get a copy.

It was getting colder outside as autumn was beginning to slowly turn to winter. November was getting to be a colder month it seemed. Her mood seemed to be following the season. But she would remain vigilant and pulled the blanket tighter around her as she sat on the hill. Twice in the last three weeks she had been sitting there and he had come to the window to see if she was still there: Once two weeks ago, and once two days ago. He was stubborn. But she could be stubborn too.

However, the only thing wearing more thinly than her vigilance and stubbornness was her patience. If there was time for anything up here on the hill, it was time to think. Time to weigh the pros and cons and what he had offered her. If she opened up to him, if she was honest with him about what she knew, then she would be let in. She would be allowed back onto the case to save her town from this…problem. But was it worth the cost? Would he even believe her?

She felt her teeth start to chatter and she wrapped her arms more tightly around her body. It was only by the grace of some divine protection that she wasn't catching a cold, or worse pneumonia, up here. Was she really going to give in to his demands? She remembered their conversation perfectly.

'You first.'

"Me first…"

If she told him everything, he would tell her what he knew. Or at least bring her back into the loop. And she couldn't be out for much longer. He had been wearing her down slowly over the last few weeks. She was strong, but he had all the cards and had taken all hers away. She couldn't do this. Or was this part of his plan? To wear her down. He was always three steps ahead of her. She dropped her head into her hands, pulling at her hair in frustration. Was he expecting her to give in or not at all? Was she overthinking this or not thinking about it enough? She felt she could scream. How could one person do this to her? To make her go this insane enough to question her own thoughts of motives not to be pulled by the strings of another was unbearable.

"Ok…you win"

She stood from her spot, letting the blanket fall from her shoulders and onto the cold damp grass below the cloudy sky. She could feel it starting to rain. She pulled her cellphone from her pocket, sending him a text.

'I will tell you. Will you let me in? Y/N'

She waited as the rain came down, spattering against her cell phone's screen causing the light spectrum of raindrops on the screen of her phone to overtake the images of her several dozen text messages. For a moment her mind completely left the current situation and she wondered how high her cellphone bill for this month was going to be. She was only allowed several text messages a month and she had burned through nearly 200 of them in the last week alone trying to get a response from the recluse.

A minute passed then two, and then five. Nothing in return. Did she have to break down the damn door? Did she have to sing it for him? He won. She would tell him. She felt her knuckles and jaw hurt too late and tried to relax them both from breaking her cellphone and possibly breaking her teeth.

"Answer me, damn it…"

There was nothing. She couldn't stay here. It was starting to rain and she needed to get home before the roads became too slippery for her to travel on them. Defeated and angry, she put her cellphone back into her pocket and trekked down the hill with the blanket, throwing it on the patio behind the house to keep it from the rain. She would be back. She would always be back for this.

She felt the device vibrate against her leg and pulled it from her pocket. Was he playing games again?

'It's cold outside. Hot chocolate? Y/N'

She turned when she heard the door to the house open and Sebastian showed himself, leaning his body against the doorway. He wore a black vest on top of a white dress shirt with his black slacks on. Even when home alone for three weeks he still found it necessary to dress up. She locked eyes with him as she approached. There was no point trying to hide anything from him. Anything she tried to hide he would figure out for himself or call her out on. 'Be honest' she kept telling herself.

When she approached to walk into the house he held his hand out, pressing against her chest. She looked up to him and into those green eyes of his. She couldn't help but feel that they were sizing each other up at the moment. Had he changed his mind and was now denying her admittance?

"Are you going to be honest with me, Naoto?"

"I am willing to be if you are willing to share the information you have"

"That sounds fair…"

He stepped out of her way so she could walk in. she heard the kettle click in the kitchen.

"Hot chocolate or Tea?"

She was in a bitter mood as she sat down to pull her boots off.

"Hot chocolate please…"

It was a tense moment between the two of them. Perhaps something sweet would help them both to relax.

As Naoto made her way into the kitchen from the foyer, she moved slowly, taking in the web of red thread he had stretched out now in the family room. It covered most of the room and traveled up the stairs into his central web room and partly into the kitchen. Thin strands of red and black and green entwined themselves around objects all pinned to a piece of information along the walls. He had been hard at work.

"I see you have expanded your information, Sebastian"

"Well the work records were well worth the money. Thanks to them I believe I have motive for the murders and suspects to point to"

She was impressed and almost impatient as she blurted out.

"What do you know?!"

He brought the two cups of hot chocolate to the table and set one down in her seat and one for himself. He sat down at his end of the table and folded his hands neatly on the wood. She took her place on the other side, slumping back in her chair.

She looked down at her cup, thick rich hot chocolate steamed from her cup, little mini white marshmallows bobbed within her drink. She looked across to his seeing none. She liked marshmallows. How he knew what she was thinking based on her facial expressions was one thing, but her likes and dislikes? She really wanted to hear about that trick of his.

"Go on Shirogane, you first."

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, slowly exhaling.

"Please listen to all I have to say before speaking…"

He nodded his head and took a sip of his drink. She simply stared down into hers.

"This case is not a new occurrence to me or to the police of this town. Two years ago bodies were showing up hanging from the same electrical objects as now. Nowhere near as many in such a short amount of time mind you. Through several different methods, the Inaba police and I were able to determine the murderer as another of the Inaba police and he was arrested for the crimes after three found dead. A copycat murder was performed at the same time which caused the third victim. It took us the better part of a year to solve the case and find the murderer…"

She was silent for a moment and looked up to him. He was almost looking bored with the story. But she knew why already.

"…but that's the official story"

His bored expression slowly began to fade as his smile returned. He was enjoying this.

"The official story paints me as the one who solved the case in order to hide the identities of those that helped me in my endeavors."

She looked back down. She couldn't imagine how stupid this story was going to sound to him.

"There were eight of us on that team. The investigation team consisted of myself, Teddie and Yosuke, a man working down at the textile shop in the shopping district, a woman currently working with the Inaba police on patrol, the Idol Rise kujikawa, the future owner of the Amagi inn…"

She was quiet for a moment and looked up to him. His expression had changed back to serious and she caved internally.

"…and detective Dojima's Nephew."

She watched as his small smile returned and he got that look in his eye. He had just devoured a key piece of information from her and the answer to a question long since asked at this same table three weeks ago. But rather than dwell on it, she pressed on, feeling her own words turn sour and she pulled her hat down over her eyes.

"We met each other over the course of a year and developed a relationship with one another. We all wanted this case to be over. Some of us…"

She remembered Yosuke.

"…lost someone we cared for. And others almost did."

He stood from his seat, walking off into the living room to the center of his web, looking about at the information, trying to piece what she was telling him into the current case. She followed after him making sure not to touch any of the strings as she moved. She leaned back against the wall beside the TV, untouched and developing a layer of dust.

"The case was abnormal in the fact that, much like now, there was no cause of death and the bodies were displayed in public at impossible places for a body to be without some sort of equipment or special help from another. No one ever saw anything and anyone that did either wound up dead or kidnapped."

Here it came…

"But many of us in the group had been kidnapped by a single individual believed to be the murderer and placed somewhere no one would ever look or believe…"

She placed her hand on the top of the television.

"In here"

Now he looked interested. Like a child ready to open a present but having the self-control not to leap out of his own skin at the excitement. But at the same time, something in his eyes made her feel exactly how she thought she would. Like he thought she was making it up. But it didn't matter. She had made a commitment.

"He would kidnap up and place us inside the television. Whenever someone ended up on a certain program that came on at a certain time of night during a foggy evening, that person was to be kidnapped, placed into the television, and killed by its denizens."

His smile was replaced with a small coy one as he crossed his arms, still listening.

"After two false accusations against two separate individuals, we tracked down the true culprit in this world and took him into custody after an altercation."

She hadn't been sleeping well and rubbed the spot between her eyes.

"And that's what I believe is happening now. Someone is putting these people into the television and letting its denizens kill them at which time they end up back in our world."

Sebastian said nothing, simply stood there. Naoto watched him closely, but could see no change in his facial expression or the way he held himself. Slowly after a moment, his smile disappeared. What she was expecting was some sort of shock or joke to be made. Of perhaps an insult. What she wasn't expecting was,

"Is that all?"

"I..I don't know what else to say…"

He approached her slowly, arms still crossed across his vest.

"I said that I wanted to know what you were hiding from me. Is that all you have to offer?"

Her mouth opened but she froze up again, not knowing what he wanted to hear. It was his turn to speak, but his words cut her deep.

"Leave this place, Naoto. Don't bother me again until you are willing to be honest with me. Don't ever come to me thinking i'm stupid"

Something inside of her slipped which caused everything else to tumble away. It had been so long since it had been this bad, but her fuse was now lit and that other side of her reached out when she got close enough and she struck him. Hard. Her fist stung and the bones felt like they had broken when it connected with the corner of his cheek. She had thrown her entire body into the punch but he didn't go down. It felt good. It felt good to hit him after these three weeks of silence. But what didn't feel good was the retaliation as his fist drove itself into her stomach.

The strike had been fast. The strike had been strong. It had been precise. Naoto had never been punched in the stomach before but she had often seen it in movies and whenever they were hit, they always collapsed. Now she knew why. She couldn't breathe and the air had been struck from her lungs. She felt her legs get weak and he caught her with his other arm, slowly sinking to the floor with her as she collapsed against him.

She felt herself convulse against him, her body zapped of energy and she fell against him, head resting against his shoulder as she tried and struggled to take a breath. Eventually it came to her and she took a deep breath, coughing several times. He held her tightly until he could feel her getting her strength back and let her go, standing back up. She fell onto her hands, coughing. She couldn't breathe with these chest bindings on. But she had no means to remove them. She couldn't remove them.

He turned his back to her, moving closer to the corner of the room and running his hand along the spot she had hit. No doubt it would cause a nice bruise. It ached. She had slugged him on the corner of his right cheekbone below his eye. Ice sounded appropriate.

"Foolish child…"

It slipped inside her again and she forced herself to her feet, taking a quick moment to gather her strength. Tears welled up in her eyes as she bit her lip, her hands shaking and forming into fists. Child was she?

When he turned to look at her, he felt his head snap to the side again with another right hook into the same spot and he felt himself stumble back with the force of the strike. In a moment of pain and panic, his mind raced. Perhaps he had hit a button that he should not have hit inside of her with that last remark as she charged him and rushed her shoulder into his stomach. Wrapping her arms around him tightly, she pushed hard off the ground and off his feet. But he was a little more top heavy than she had anticipated and he fell backwards, reaching out to grab onto her jacket and the rim of her slacks as they fell…

…Into the television.

Sebastian must have blacked out for a minute when he hit the floor. Slowly he rolled onto his back and the pain shot up his stomach, his hands reaching down to clutch his right leg at his hip. He let out a groan, gripping the spot tightly.

Naoto slowly opened her eyes to a red and black sky and felt herself sigh. She knew where she was. On the one hand, perhaps now he would believe her story. On the other hand…she knew where they were and what that meant. She heard him groaning and slowly rolled onto her hands and knees.

"Sebastian, are you alright?"

"No"

"What's wrong?"

"I think I fell on my keys"

She smiled to herself and slowly pulled herself up to stand. Sebastian eventually found the strength to roll over onto his knees and sat down on his heels. Naoto offered her hand to help pick him up and he pulled himself to his feet with her help.

"Thanks…"

He tried to smile but held himself back, his face hurting when he did. He reached up to touch where she had struck him both times. It was very tender to the touch.

"You have a really good right hook, Naoto. Really good aim"

"All good detectives know how to fight"

He went to smile but stopped again, cupping his hand on his face and letting out a small grunt. This bruise was going to be beautiful.

"I need some ice for this"

"I'm sure you will be fine without for a time"

Sebastian closed the eye above his bruise and took a moment to take in his surroundings. They were in a playground. Slide, swings, monkey bars, tire swing, clubhouse. There were no trees to be seen as he looked around. No children. The sky was a wave of red and black that continuously cascaded and warped the ever changing sky. The ground was grey and black. He felt a growl escape his throat but he suppressed it as soon as it left his lips. No children, no adults. No birds or dogs or…life. Just the two of them.

"So…this is what the other side of your televisions looks like…"

"I wasn't making up a story or lying to you, Sebastian. My friends and I really did those things."

He was quiet for a moment before turning to her. His cheek was starting to swell and puff out, his skin beginning to discolor to a purple and yellow.

"I never said you were lying, Naoto. I said you weren't telling me the whole truth."

"What truth?"

"That-"

Sebastian froze when he heard the cracking noise coming from the small wooden clubhouse. He turned towards the structure and the silver doors began to pulse and ripple as a sludgy black liquid began to pour from between the doors and onto the floor. Whatever was inside, there was lots of it and it wanted out.

The doors to the clubhouse burst open and off their hinges, flying to either side of the playground. Sebastian dug his heels into the grey sand beneath his feet, unsure of his next move. From the clubhouse, two large white eyes appeared from the blackness, blinking several times as it looked at him. Sebastian felt his heart skip a beat as the beasts black lips pulled back to expose large flat teeth in a cruel smile. Its mouth opened as a white and black striped tongue protruded from its mouth. Its body was made of black sludgy arms. Hundreds of them as they reached and clawed to get at Sebastian. They flapped against the ground, attempting to drag the hulking body towards him as it let out a screech followed by chatter as its teeth knocked against themselves over and over again.

Sebastian stood mesmerized by the monster as it thrashed about trying to get at him, slowly dragging its large body towards him, black viscous material sliding off its body like tar onto the ground like a snail as it pulled itself on its hundreds of thin arms, the hands sinking into the grey sand as they moved, almost rolling off one another.

"Get down!"

Sebastian snapped out of his stupor and turned his head to Naoto's gun being pointed at him. He dropped to the ground and Naoto fired three shots from her gun into the beast's eyes. The orbs popped and drained onto the animals face as the bullets tore into its tar like flesh. Sebastian had expected the detective to shoot the eyes. What he hadn't expected was the accompanying explosions in the beasts head as the bullets burst in a cloud of fire. He turned to look at her.

"Explosive bullets?!"

"I can be clever too, Detective Chastity"

He smiled through the pain and Naoto pushed three more bullets into the chamber of her revolver, making sure they had been colored blue at the top. Sebastian turned back to the thrashing beast who continued to crawl blindly, following the sound of their voices.

"Hit it again. Burry deeper"

Naoto rushed to Sebastian's side and fired two more shots. She made a mental note. Three bullets of blue tip left in the chamber. The animal she hit cried out in pain and felt its body shudder and its arms slow as they felt heavy to the beast. Its long tongue flailed about in its mouth. Naoto smiled to herself. It had been too long since she had been in a fight and it felt good to be winning. She approached the beast and pulled back on the hammer of her revolver, aiming deep inside the beasts head, and pulled the trigger. She twisted her wrist to absorb the recoil of the powerful round as it shredded the beast's body and ripped clean through its husk before it stopped moving entirely, its voice becoming a quiet whine before succumbing to death.

She waited to make sure it really was dead before letting her revolver fall to her side. As she turned back to Sebastian she slid three more bullets into the chambers. Two with orange tips and one with blue.

"What kind of round was that one?"

She looked up to Sebastian.

"Pardon me?"

"The bullet you just fired. Not exactly standard issue…"

"Scatter shot"

"And you just…walk around with these things in your pocket…"

"A good detective must always be prepared for the worst kind of situation"

He smiled a little through the pain in his face.

"You're taking stabs at me, aren't you?"

She smiled back a bit with a shrug and holstered her revolver at her side from whence it came. Sebastian eyed up the body of the beast in front of him, taking in the little details before he took in the bigger ones.

"Were those are the denizens you were talking about"

"They are…"

Sebastian felt his ears twitch when he heard the chatter of teeth again. The small black hands gripped onto the edges of the door of the building before another of the same beasts came crawling through the clubhouse. She drew her gun again and pulled back the hammer. But then it came again and louder as two began to crawl from the grey sand of the playground beside the swing set and begin their crawl. Naoto knew she didn't have enough bullets to kill three of them. But he felt her gun fall to her side when two more came from the tire swing behind them and one from the slides came shambling over the metal, it creaking and twisting under the beast's weight. She knew that she couldn't win like this and drastic times called for drastic measures.

"So detective, what was that about a good detective is always prepared for the worst situation?"

She smiled and raised her gun up, aiming almost at the sky.

"They are always prepared"

She felt a small smile form on her lips as she spoke those words she had longed to speak again. And when she spoke them, the warmth of the blue light surrounding her filled her with a warmth and happiness she had missed for two whole years.

"Per…so…na!"

The Wheel of Fortune card…her card. It's white and yellow filled her with joy to see again as it twisted up from the light about her, hovering stationary in the air before her, a blast of air rushing from an unseen point causing her cloths to flutter. She aimed her gun at the card and pulled the trigger of her revolver. As the bullet left her gun in a stream of blue, the bullet shattered the card like glass or fine crystal, the pieces scattering to the wind and disappearing.

Sebastian could only smile as the figure above Naoto came into focus. The creature's uniform was pristine and white with gold buckles along the chest and stomach. Black leather boots and gloves stretch to the knee and elbow of the almost military figure before him. At its side rested a long blade, hidden inside its white sheath with a gold trim. The long white wings attached to the back of its gloves were connected to its back like a cape to its uniform. Its navy blue leggings reminded him of a civil war uniform. But what he enjoyed the most, was the white helmet the being wore. Pointed at the nose and drawn back to a point at the back of its head, the being looked about for a moment through a black screen which obscured its face.

Naoto turned to look at Sebastian who had a different kind of smile on his face as he devoured the information and form of this new creature. For just a moment, the creature turned to look at Sebastian, ignoring the monsters which were closing in on them. Sebastian could only be honest with it as it acknowledged his existence.

"You're beautiful…"

The creature turned its attention back to the monsters about them and wrapped its gloved fingers around the red grip of its blade, drawing the shining steel from its scabbard. Naoto turned her attention back to her persona.

"Yamato-Takeru…"

She turned her attention to the shadows while the soldier turned its attention to Naoto.

"Let's get some exercise…"

The soldier drew it's blade in front of its face as a small salute and dashed off into one of the creatures. Its many arms reached out to grab at the soldier but were too slow to match its foe's speed. It paid for that dearly as the blade the persona carried cut through the blackness of the monster and cleaved it nearly in two.

Sebastian felt a stir inside of him as he watched the soldier dance on the field, slicing through its foes. It could have conducted a symphony orchestra with that sword. Sebastian felt something move inside of him and he swallowed hard to keep himself from falling down. He spoke quietly to himself and the monster inside him.

"So…that's what you felt at the train terminal"

There was a quiet growl in his ears and he turned to see one of the beasts close to him. Its many arms reached for him but he dashed backward and used his push back to roll off his sitting position, off his shoulder, and onto all fours. His vest was going to get dirty.

Naoto fired three of her blue bullets into the monster that came after Sebastian, the beast howled and clutched at the holes she blew into it, large chunks of tar like flesh bursting off its body and smoking against the ground as it landed with a splot against the sand. The creature did not falter however and instead turned to Naoto, spitting up white ichor and spitting it towards her. She rolled out of the way and fired again, the orange bullet in the chamber blowing a large hole on the beasts face. But it still came at her.

The soldier, sensing its counterpart's danger, dashed through the air upon its white cape wings and cleaved the monster along its jaw line, cutting its head open just above the lower jaw. The head slid from the body and the tongue wriggled about before it lay still against the sand.

Naoto fumbled in her pocket for a few more bullets and pulled out one more orange, two more blue, and one regular bullet. She cursed quietly to herself. She hadn't expected this much of a fight. Naoto slid the bullets into their chambers and spun her cylinder before pulling back on the hammer and firing a blue tip onto another beast which was approaching them. They were getting faster.

Another of the creatures pulled itself up from the grey sand followed by another by the monkey bars. Too many. There were too many of them. Naoto fell forward onto her hands as Sebastian tackled her from the back. He let out a groan as the white blob of ichor struck him in the back and splattered along his vest. Once he landed on top of her, he climbed off and struggled to get the vest off, tossing it aside as the material bubbled and disintegrated what it had touched.

"Sebastian! Are you alright?"

He stood back up, pain obvious in his face. It had struck his scar.

"I liked that vest, damn it"

Naoto stood back up but fell to her knee with a small cry as her persona's arm was struck by one of the tar creature's black arms. Naoto clutched her arm tightly and her persona dashed backwards to get distance between her and one of the creatures but was struck in the back by a large blob of the white ichor. It let out a shrilled scream inside it's helmet and Naoto screamed as her back arched and she fell onto her stomach, trying to get herself back up as her Persona fell from the sky, landing beside the two of them, rolling around against the sand to try and get the goo off.

Naoto looked up to Sebastian who rushed to her aid, helping her so she could sit.

"Sebastian…"

She swallowed her pride and was honest with him. It wasn't as though she was going to get a second chance.

"I'm sorry I got you into this. I'm sure with time…"

She felt herself smile a bit.

"…we would have been great friends."

Sebastian slowly stood from her and pulled at his tie, loosening it from his neck.

"I'm sorry I wasn't completely honest with you either Naoto."

He unbuttoned the top button of his shirt and dropped to one knee, planting his hands on the ground, gripping the cold sand tightly in his fingers.

"Get out here…"

The monsters howled as they approached, clutching at the sand, the mouths running freely with saliva as they hungered for their next feed.

"If you don't we all die…and you'll never get to say what you feel!"

"Sebastian…"

He screamed out at the top of his lungs like a maniac.

"Volf!"

Sebastian screamed as his body began to burn from the inside. But though he was screaming, he had a smile on from ear to ear that Naoto would never forget. A smile of joy and excitement. Perhaps even pleasure as he felt as though he was losing himself. The screams turned into howls and tears began to run down his face. The shadows let out a quiet howl, sensing what was amiss. Naoto noticed the brief pause in their destruction before it became time for her to be caught in the awe of the event. There was no blue light but a red light that formed around Sebastian. The translucent light drifted off Sebastian's body in his shape but began to shift and twist to accommodate a much larger being as it began to form above his body. Sebastian's voice no longer came as a man but an animal as he clutched and scraped at the sand as the light began to develop a form.

Powerful thick legs stomped down into the sand on either side of Sebastian. Black claws formed from around the grey paws that acted as the beasts legs. Its lower body was covered in a blue shredded cloth which only exposed more of the thick muscle beneath the material. The upper body of the animal was exposed showing off its immaculate physique and its abdominal muscles. The biped was still forming before them. And when it was formed, Naoto could only revel in what she could only assume was Sebastian's pain, anger, and perhaps sorrow, as a physically manifested being.

The large wolf before her stood on thick hind legs. It's thick chest and arms were covered in scars thick and thin. Its long teeth came down over its lips making it look more demon like in its face than wolf. The werewolf carried a large white blade at its side in a simple black sheath. Its grey fur stood on end as it growled at the shadows around it. Its yellow eyes peered about to Naoto, then to her persona lying on the ground.

Sebastian started to laugh and reached up to draw his hand under his nose as it began to bleed. The laugh made Naoto forget all about the shadows and she felt a chill run up her spine. Sebastian looked up to the animal and patted him on the side of the leg. The animal drew the blade from its sheath and planted it into the sand before cracking its knuckles loudly. It was smiling.

"Volf…"

The animal growled awaiting instructions.

"…kill"


	15. Chapter 15

Sebastian slowly pulled himself to his feet, his arm drawn under his nose to stop the blood from touching his nice shirt. His other hand's palm was pressed hard against his right eye. It hurt terribly. But he could only laugh as the animal that came from him tore off on all fours. Claws digging into the sand, as it charged into battle, its fur began to light up with a soft blue illumination that ran across its entire body as it's veins began to glow and the air around it became electrified and thick with energy. It threw its shoulder into one of the large beasts, knocking it over and back with a small boom of lightning from its shoulder. As soon as the monster hit the ground, Sebastian's beast drove its clawed hands into the beast's mouth, gripping hard and pulling its thick black and white tongue from its body, the white light of electricity cascading down the beast's shoulders and into the monster's mouth. The animal threw the monster's tongue away and let out a vicious roar as it drove its powerful leg into the shadows mouth and gripped onto its upper jaw, ripping the beast's mouth open and tearing its upper mandible off.

With fluent movement, the animal leapt from one of the shadows onto another, viciously tearing at its tar flesh, the hands grasping at the beast though it's powerful arms and legs ignored the grasps and tore great hunks of flesh off with its sharp glowing claws. Cutting deeper and deeper, the animal's blood frenzy was unleashed as its clawed hands thrust through one of the creature's midsection and stepped through it with a sickening ripping noise which caused the monster's body to be cleft in twain, rushing through the sand to another.

Naoto was speechless as she watched the large electrified werewolf tear through the shadows with its powerful arms in its blood rage. But her eyes shifted to Sebastian who stood on shaking legs, laughing and screaming as his wolf killed the beasts around them.

"Kill them! Kill them all!"

The wolf roared out again and drove its claws into one of the shadows mid charge and ripped the beast in two, never halting to slowing down as it brutally eviscerated the large mouthed beasts. Naoto's persona stirred and shook its head to clear whatever clouds it had in its head to look up at the large beast as it cleaved the face off of one of the shadows. If there was a face behind that helmet, Naoto couldn't imagine its expression as it watched. Naoto was accustom to fighting shadows. She had killed her fair share. But killing a shadow with lightning or fire or ice attacks from her or her friend's persona was one thing. This wasn't a fight. This was a massacre.

Sebastian let out a scream which was drowned out from the wolf's howl as it leaned its large head back and threw its arms out in a theatrical motion as though it was howling at the moon. Large arcs of electricity cascaded off the beast and between its fingers and legs. The wolf was covered in the black blood of the shadows it had killed. She wasn't accustom to seeing that either. Normally killing shadows had been a clean…almost sanitary act. But this animal seemed to be reveling in the blood soaked victory it had just achieved.

Naoto felt fear for this animal and took a step back. Unfortunately for her, her persona felt the fear and forced itself to its feet. Its white caped wings fluttered open, and clutching its sword, it dashed towards the wolf with an almost blinding speed as it flew through the air.

Naoto wasn't quick enough to utter a word as her persona attacked and twisted its body to cleave the animal. But the wolf's ears twitched and it spun on its heels, catching the persona in its powerful arms. One clawed hand gripped the soldier's throat, the other the wrist which carried the blade. Small streams of electricity ran along the beast's hands and against her persona, lapping against the leather of its gloves and glass of its faceplate. It Snarled at it. The soldier looked into the beasts eyes, noticing even the veins in its eyes seemed to light up with the energy it wielded. Sebastian screamed.

"Stop!"

The animal snarled at the soldier in its blood rage, but upon hearing Sebastian's voice felt the fog lift inside its head as it realized what it was doing. Its erratic breathing began to slow as it looked into the helmet of the soldier at whatever face was inside, the glowing beginning to dim and disappear. The soldier kicked at the wolf's chest to no avail. It was built for speed and not for power.

"Volf…"

The werewolf looked at its claws and along its arms. Naoto noticed the almost apologetic look in its eyes as it slowly lowered the soldier to the ground, its leather boots sinking into the grey sand. Sebastian took a few steps towards them.

"Let her go, Volf…"

The wolf had a look of embarrassment and apology as it slowly released the soldier's throat and wrist.

"It's alright Volf. Good boy"

Sebastian, hand still pressed tightly to his right eye, watched as the two beings eyed each other up. The soldier looked up at the beast unwavering and took a moment to look about the beast's body. It reached out with a leather glove and pressed it to the beast's chest. Volf's tail flipped a few times happily through the animal didn't show it on its face. The soldier took a step closer to the beast and reached a gloved hand up to touch the side of its face. Volf turned its head away from the touch with a growl but the soldier persisted and placed a hand at the side of its muzzle and ran it along its demon teeth. Volf turned back to look down into the visor of the soldier. She embraced him, hugging the wolf tightly. It was showing appreciation.

Sebastian felt himself smile as he watched the two. It was a good thing the blood that now pressed between the two wasn't permanent. Otherwise it was a shame that the soldier's nice white suit was going to be covered in the black blood of the monsters. Sebastian mocked his beast, singing loud enough for the wolf to hear.

"And they called it…..puppy love"

Sebastian heard a faint click and felt the barrel of Naoto's revolver press to the back of his head. The noise caused him to stop in his tracks and Volf to turn its large head and let out a growl, pushing past the soldier towards Sebastian as its veins began to glow again.

"Don't move, beast"

Sebastian looked to Volf and nodded his head.

"It's alright, Volf. It's going to be ok."

The animal stood still for only a moment before slowly beginning to pace from side to side, its glowing yellow eyes trained on Naoto as it moved. Naoto glanced to her persona and the soldier drew it's blade across her helmet before fading in a small glint of blue light.

"Naoto…what's your plan?"

Naoto pressed the revolver a little harder against the back of his head. She wouldn't miss at this distance. Worse so he knew that there was a blue tipped bullet in the chamber and would blow his head clean off if he pushed the wrong buttons again.

"The one responsible for the murders of those people is one who can enter this world. It's one that has free range to this world and has the abilities and skills necessary to kill in this plane of existence. You have those powers and those skills. Who is to say you aren't the murderer?"

Sebastian raised his hands up in surrender.

"I just saved your life detective. I know what you are capable of. Why would I save you just so you can figure out I killed those people later? To gain your trust? I feel as though I already had that with or without the previous altercation for the last three weeks."

Volf moved around the two, Naoto turning her and Sebastian as she watched the animal as it pulled it's sword from the sand and slid it into its black sheath. She wasn't going to take any chances with that animal.

Sebastian cleared his throat.

"Who is to say you aren't the murderer, Naoto Shirogane?"

"What are you talking about?!"

"Well for starters you have been hiding information from me. Lying about what you knew and your involvement in this case and your possible theories. You have been rather disgruntled at my involvement from the start. What if you're the killer?"

Naoto bit her lower lip. He was digging inside her head again.

"I love this town. Why would I want to kill these people? And didn't you already say you had a theory on who was responsible?"

"Damn. You remember me saying that. I know you aren't the killer, Naoto. And you know I'm not the killer. So put the gun away and let talk. Ok?"

Slowly he turned around; hands still high, the barrel pointed at his head. Naoto felt herself pull back when she looked at his face. Blood ran freely from his nose and down his mouth and chin. He leaned his head forward to prevent the blood from running down his neck and shirt. He had already lost his vest. He didn't want to spend the night scrubbing his shirt with a toothbrush and club soda to get the blood out. His right eye was deep red. She assumed he had popped several blood vessels in his eye when he had called his persona. With the swelling and deep bruising of his cheek under his eye, he looked as though he belonged in a hospital. She felt her gun waver and drift away from his head. Not out of trust, but out of sympathy.

Sebastian took advantage of that and hooked one of his fingers from his raised hand around the back of her trigger to prevent her from pulling it and firing. She did try though and let out a loud cough as he pulled her gun over his shoulder and pulled her against him, striking her with his knee sending her stumbling backwards although she tried to keep a tight grip on her gun. But when his leg raised and he kicked her in the chest, she felt her hand slip from the wooden grip of her pistol as she flew backwards onto the ground. She brought a hand up to her chest. Her bindings were making it difficult to breathe. And now, she had no weapon.

She leaned up to sit and charge him, but he turned the gun in his hand and pointed the revolver at her. She froze, scouring at him. She began to panic and her heart began to race. But she needed to keep quiet. He kept the gun trained on her for a moment longer before he popped open the chamber and tilted her gun backward to let all her bullets slide from their chambers. He snapped the cylinder closed again and tossed the gun into her lap.

Volf approached up behind Sebastian and stood towering over him. She took her eyes off Sebastian to look at the beast. It glared down at her with a growl; it's piercing yellow eyes staring through her. She wasn't sure if it was looking at her or her persona. The animal leaned its head down over Sebastian's shoulder and the man curled his arm around the animal's head. He took his eyes off Naoto and closed them, resting his head against Volf's maw. He scratched the side of Volf's head.

"Good boy…"

He turned his attention back to Naoto and approached her, Volf mimicking his movements with each step as though they were one and the same being. Sebastian offered his hand to help her up.

"I don't want you dead, Naoto. I want to help."

She sighed and looked to the ground, offering her hand to him. He pulled her to her feet and she winced, gripping her arm where pain still radiated at her elbow and along her chest. She looked up into his eyes and couldn't help but find herself drawn into his red one. She raised her hand to his cheek, lifting his eyelid and was careful not to hurt his bruise.

"Are you alright, Sebastian?"

"It will go away in a few weeks no doubt. But my back and cheek really hurt"

"They look painful"

He smiled and nodded his head. She smiled back.

"Volf…"

The beast growled quietly as it turned its attention to Sebastian.

"We need a way out. Would you mind?"

The animal let out a small snarl and bowed its head. Naoto watched as the beast lifted its leg and stomped it onto the ground causing the sand around the center point of his force to blast away. She shielded her eyes and waited for the dust to settle before removing her arm. Buried beneath the sand was an old thick tube television. She was accustom to them, but this was 2014. Tube televisions were long since a thing of the past. Naoto was a little surprised he had been given a way out so easily by this beast. Normally when on the previous case, Teddie was a necessity.

"Sebastian, an exit from this world isn't such an easy feat. How are you able to come and go as you wish?"

Sebastian smiled at her and winced, drawing his hand to his cheek.

"I think it's about time we had a little chat. Don't you?"

Naoto nodded and looked up to the large wolf.

"Thank you"

The animal nodded and reached out its claws onto Sebastian's shoulders, gripping them tightly as it pulled itself into Sebastian's body. Its form became the red translucent light as its form shrank and twisted becoming a mirror image of Sebastian as it pulled itself on top of his form and finally disappeared. Sebastian held no pain in his face or screaming or laughing at the event. Naoto made a mental note before climbing down into the television followed quickly by Sebastian.

Sebastian stood up from the carpet and walked over to his couch, falling back onto it, exhausted. Naoto followed suit and fell down in the chair at the far end of the couch. They said nothing for a few minutes until Sebastian spoke up.

"Naoto…"

She turned to him, her eyes heavy with sleep.

"Show me what you're hiding"

She was quiet for a moment and sighed as she looked to the ground. She reached up and grabbed the tip of her hat, hesitating.

"Naoto, I won't judge you. You know that"

Feeling a little more reassured she pulled her hat from her head and reached back, pulling the tie from her hair to let her locks fall onto her shoulders. It felt good to let her hair down. She set her hat down on the coffee table and slowly shifted her eyes to him. He was smiling.

"You look beautiful"

She felt her cheeks get hot and she slumped down in her chair, sinking into it.

"How long have you known, Sebastian?"

"Six minutes after you picked me up from the train station"

She was a little shocked. She prided herself on her disguise and her upkeep of it. Trying hard to stifle the little things and prevent suspicion.

"Why didn't you say anything? Or correct anyone when they referred to me as a male?"

"Why would I? You take pride in that disguise"

He slowly stood from his seat, pulling himself to get up. He moved for the kitchen, pulling two dish towels that were hanging from the stove and opened the freezer, filling them both with ice. He returned shortly after and handed her one of the make shift ice packs.

"Take your coat off. Get it against the skin."

She leaned forward to take it off before pressing the ice pack to her elbow. She leaned back with a small smile and a sigh as the pain began to dull. He flopped back onto the couch and held the icepack against his cheek. He had been more damaged from her punches than anything the shadows had done. Or perhaps it was just because he couldn't get an ice pack on his back. He closed his eyes, just enjoying the feeling of the ice against his skin.

"Ask away, Shirogane. I'm sure you have questions."

"How long have you had your persona?"

He leaned his head back up to look at her.

"My what?"

"Your persona. Volf"

"I don't even know what a persona is. Though I think Volf likes your soldier."

"Her name is Yamato-Takeru"

"And I'm not going to call her that. It's too long"

"Fine. How long have you had Volf?"

"Dreadvolf"

"What?"

"His name is Dreadvolf. Just for clarification. I call him Volf for short."

"How long?"

"Fourteen years"

"Fourteen?!"

Sebastian nodded quietly. His face changed in expression and she caught it. It hurt him.

"When my parents died I was three years old. Most people would probably think that a child of that age doesn't understand the concept of death or life. They probably think that this is just how things go and don't understand till later that death happens to everyone. But I understood."

He leaned forward in his seat and removed the icepack from his face. It would purple and black nicely.

"A three year old wouldn't understand the concept of suicide either. And they are probably right. But a six year old can."

He looked at her as she leaned forward in her chair and set her icepack down on the coffee table. She reached for her hat.

"Leave it off. You look good without it."

She hesitated and drew her hand back, folding her hands in her lap but remembering her elbow hurt and she wrapped her fingers around the pain.

"When they died I went to live with my aunt and uncle. They were nice people. They probably loved me as much as my parents could have. But I was a bad kid. I had lots of anger and rage inside of me. I was tough to raise."

He stood up slowly, making his way to the window and drawing back the curtain to the storm outside.

"So after almost three years with them and having plenty of time to sit in my anger and pain I decided I didn't want it anymore. I lost my parents and had no one to call my own."

She caught his hesitation while she reached for her icepack to place back on her arm.

"I…"

He smiled and looked down at his hands, rubbing them against one another.

"I wanted to die. I wanted to go away. I was tired of being angry and upset every damn day. So…I went into my aunt and uncle's bathroom and broke the bathroom mirror. And I found just the most beautiful piece of glass that fell from the wall. The most beautiful piece of glass I have ever seen. I cut myself on the arm with it to see if I was sure I wanted to do this. And oh boy, pain never felt so good to experience. I drew the shard of glass to my throat, and just as I was about to do it…"

He sighed and turned to face her.

"I heard a little voice inside my head. Wasn't mine. I knew that for sure."

He had a big smile on his face now as he reminisced.

"It called me a coward. Said I was too scared to do it. He kept referring to me as a 'little boy'. Which was true, but it still made me angry. It was Volf's voice. He had a weird way of talking me down. Insulting me, calling me out on my cowardice and childlike behavior. He told me that if I let him, he would help me develop as a person. He taught me how to think, how to fight, how to study. He would tell me when to exercise, how to deduce, and even how to read people. He taught me everything. But in return, I lost sleep. He would never let me sleep. Afraid that if I dreamed he would disappear into nothingness. So I stayed awake to keep my guardian safe."

"And he has been with you since then…"

"Every moment of every day for the past fourteen years. I can feel him inside me. Crawling and slinking around behind my eyes. I can hear him breathe and feel him move. You know what I mean"

She shook her head slowly.

"I'm afraid I can't say I do, Sebastian. I have only had my persona for two years. Granted to me upon accepting myself for who I really am…"

She considered lying to him but shook it from her head, speaking honestly.

"And then again when I accepted my first love"

"So…you don't have it speak to you? Guide you?"

"I'm afraid I don't"

Sebastian chewed the information over before making his way back to his seat and sitting down. He never took his eyes off her.

"Are…are there others like you, Naoto?"

"I'm sure there are. All my friends in the previous case are the same way. Including the perpetrator."

Sebastian folded his hands under his chin, staring off into space.

"Our murderer is someone like us. The ability to go into this other world with the same powers as us. But he chooses to kill rather than defend. Interesting…"

He turned to look at her

"Did you know Volf has a love interest in your persona?"

Naoto hesitated before speaking.

"I noticed your persona seemed to have a mind of his own. "

Sebastian nodded.

"He does as he pleases but always takes me into consideration."

"Is he talking to you right now?"

"No. he's quiet when you're around. I think it's because he's shy of your persona. He said he could feel it over your shoulder when we met at the train station. He said it rendered him speechless. Do you never speak to your persona?"

"I have never tried"

"When you are alone in the future, maybe you should."

Naoto had never really considered talking to her persona. Technically, it was a part of her. It existed inside of her. Did it have its own thoughts and feelings like Volf did? Did it long? Did it hate? Did it cry? She couldn't understand the concept of a piece of her having different thoughts and feelings from herself. Or were the thoughts her own but honest? Or made manifest and expressed through a being with a different pattern of thought than her? The whole idea made her head hurt. But at the same time, it opened up so many new possibilities to her.

Could she be more like…

"That's the trick isn't it, Sebastian? The trick is that Volf tells you things. He tells you where to look and what people are thinking. "

Sebastian felt himself smile.

"Volf talks to your persona who tells him what you really feel and then he relays the information. I can gather some information on my own. But having a being like him looking out for you really helps to impress and confuse. "

She could do what he did if she too could form a sort of connection with her persona. She would be able to see things differently or know where to look on a case. She could know where evidence was immediately and not waste so much time searching. It was like one big magnifying glass. The possibilities were endless.

"Naoto…"

"Hmm?"

"Who hurt you?"

Naoto felt herself sink into the chair a little more. She reached for her hat, something to hide herself, but he reached faster and took it off the table, plunking it down beside him on the couch.

"Please tell me, Naoto"

She sighed, folding her arms over her chest and pulling the bow around her neck loose before pulling back the top button of her shirt. It was too tight. She ran her hands through her hair and bit her tongue before speaking.

"Two years ago during the case I happened to become intimately involved with Dojima's nephew."

"What's his name?"

"Souji Seta…"

The words made her heart flutter, but filled her mouth with venom. He could taste it from where he sat.

"He was the first man I had ever been with. The first person I ever knew to accept me for who I was. No hesitation, no questions, no second thought. True acceptance. I grew quite fond of him. I had never met another person like him. Raw determination, a brilliant mind, strong, fast, and a charisma about him that flooded into all of us."

She looked up to him.

"He was our keystone in that investigation."

She was quiet for a moment, her eyes trailing off across the room. He could see she wasn't really there. She was lost in her thoughts and her memories. He could only sit there and devour them.

"He made me want to be me. He made me glad I was a woman so I could be with him. I was so happy to be a woman so I could be his girlfriend. And out of all the choices that he had in front of him, he chose me. I was honored."

She turned her head to look at him, intrigued now.

"Do you know what love is like, Sebastian? To be willing to give up everything to make someone happy? To put your well being on the line? Or your safety? Or even your life?"

"I can't say I do, Shirogane. I have always tried to stay away from relationships. With Volf in my head it's hard to be involved. The constant whispers and directions. Jealousy. Resentment. I'm too…screwed up to be in a relationship with anyone. I can't do it with Volf. I don't want to pile my problems on anyone. I've always found it better to be left alone. Not for my sake but for theirs."

She understood finally. Eating for two. His bag of tricks. His constant talking to himself. His growling. He and Volf were too integrated with one another for Sebastian to get any time to himself. Take him and you take Volf with him.

"I loved him so terribly. So much it scared me. Love is really a terrifying thing. Especially to someone like me with no experience and too much fear of messing it up. But for him, I would have done anything. "

She felt herself tear up and reached up for her hat to pull down but remembered she didn't have it. So instead and just tried her best to fight it back. Sebastian said nothing. If she was going to cry then so be it. They would come eventually.

"He was only here for a year in Inaba. Just long enough to finish his schooling for the year before he went back home. On the day he went home we were all there for him to see him off. W-we tried to be together as much as we c-could before he had to go home. "

He watched as tears began to run down her cheeks, but she was smiling. So he in turn smiled back.

"We spent all our free time together. Christmas eve and day exchanging gifts, new year's eve with our friends and Christmas day with each other. And valentine's day…oh valentine's day was wonderful. We spent the evening at the beach just being with one another holding hands. I f-felt safe around him. Accepted."

She choked but swallowed it hard.

"Happy…"

Her tears suddenly stopped and she leaned back in her chair. He stood up, heading to the kitchen to get her something, clicking the electric kettle on.

"But on the final day he was here, packed and ready to go home; we were all waiting with him at the train station. And there was nothing that I wanted more than to go with him. I was willing to leave my friends and family behind to go with him and be with him. I was willing to start all over again just to be with him…"

After a minute of silence he returned to her, handing her a cup of tea with a small slice of lemon in it. She smiled down at the cup

"Thank you"

Feeling a little more relaxed after the first sip she finished her story quickly. She didn't need to reminisce any more than she already had. The story was long and probably bored him. She noticed he was bored rather easily. But she could only assume that.

"He never wrote me, never called me, or sent me a letter or texted me or even left me a damn sticky note. He just…abandoned me."

She could feel the anger rising inside her but she squashed it with another sip of the blackberry tea. He had remembered.

"He abandoned all of us"

He sat quietly as he watched her, soaking and devouring what he could about the kind of person she was. She felt a bit jealous. Whatever it was she was taking away about his character was nothing compared to what he was taking away from her. It wasn't really fair. But then again, if she wanted to know something, all she had to do was ask him. He smiled at her and she smiled back.

"I don't know how to retort to your story, Naoto"

She laughed quietly into her cup as she took another sip.

"May I work with you on this case, Sebastian?"

He nodded his head a few times.

"I would be honored. I'll have the work records e-mailed to you by tomorrow afternoon. I'll need your e-mail address. Just text it to me"

She set her cup down on the table and reached over for her hat when he offered it to her.

"I hope you don't mind Naoto, but I'm going to go lay down. Summoning Volf always just kills my energy. And being sleep deprived around you keeping Volf quiet doesn't help at all. And my head is just thumping"

She stood from her seat as he stood, slipping her hat back on. It was getting late.

"Sebastian?"

He stopped before he opened the door to his room. She looked down, tipping her hat down over her eyes as she stared at the floor. This wasn't right. She took a deep breath.

"Since the start of us working together, you have been kind, polite, appropriate, professional, and courteous."

"With exception for the past few weeks…"

"Knowing now the reason you shut me out, knowing I would have done the same…had…planned to do the same; I can't really hold it against you. I have been rude, ignorant, insulting, bitter-"

"-childish…"

"t-to name a few"

He could see her becoming physically uncomfortable and began to fidget with her hands.

"Is there...anything I can do to make it up to you?"

He stood quietly in the door for a moment as he considered her proposition. She slowly looked up to him as he approached.

"There are two things I want from you, detective…"

She suddenly felt very foolish for offering this man a request. He got close to her, staring down into her eyes. When she moved to look away he pulled the rim of her hat up to make sure she looked at him.

"For starters, if you ever withhold information from me or lie to me again-"

"I won't. I promise. I'll be honest. I'll speak my mind."

"-...Promise?"

"I swear"

He turned his head to the side, no doubt speaking to Volf.

"What do you think?"

After a quiet moment, he turned back to her and a small nod.

"Very well"

"And the second request?"

"I want you to come to dinner with me"

She was a little surprised at the request. Normally he was a little more devious with such a thing. They had had dinner before with one another. She didn't see how this was so unreasonable.

"We can do that if you like"

"And I want you to wear a dress"

She really shouldn't have been surprised, but that didn't stop her from tripping on her own tongue and her body betraying her as she blushed and felt herself both internally and externally reel back at the request.

"P-p-p-pardon me?"

His small smile had returned and he walked into the kitchen, opening his laptop that was on the counter. He punched his password and clicked a few keys as he spoke, searching for the page he had found earlier the week prior.

"When I arrived here I wanted to find a place I could call my own. At home I spend a few evenings a week at a lounge called 'High Red.' Upper class establishment. Play the piano after everyone leaves. I found one the other night. And…they…just happen…to have….dancing on Saturday nights."

He turned the laptop so she could see the advertisement for a club in Okina City. She had heard of the place from a few of her co-workers. 'Jack of Ace'. A terrible name. But there it was. Dancing with a live band on Saturday nights. She felt her shoulders slump in disbelief. Jack of Ace was an establishment much like the one he had described where he came from. A higher class establishment for those with a little more to spare. And she knew he had plenty of a little more to spare.

"We're going this Saturday. Wear a dress. No hat."

She needed to think fast. Think of a way out of it. She was **not** going to wear a dress.

"But if I run into anyone I know-"

"Who do you know that would go to a place like that?"

"Someone will notice-"

"Your disguise has fooled the detectives of the Inaba police. People who have spent their life trying to observe and solve crimes"

"I don't have-"

"We're going to get you one"

She was running out of excuses.

"I can't da-"

"I can teach you"

Then it dawned on her. He had that look in his eye again.

"You have already thought up an answer to everything I'm going to say, haven't you…"

His smile grew a little wider as he nodded his head.

"You have been rude, mean spirited, cruel, insulting…etcetera. And I want to go dancing with you to some nice man singing classic music from the 1940's in a Japanese accent in order to make up for it and you say…"

She looked down defeated but ran her hands along her face. Then her mood shifted to frustration and pulled at her hair letting out a yell.

"FINE!"

He smiled and snapped the laptop closed.

"We will get to work on the case in the morning. You can stay here tonight if you wish."

It was raining outside. Hard. She couldn't go home on her scooter in this weather. And there was no point in him driving her home if she was going to have to come back tomorrow for it. Instead she turned from him and walked into his bedroom.

"Good night, Sebastian"

She closed the door to leave him to the couch.


	16. Chapter 16

Naoto closed the door behind her once she entered the room. She was surprised his room was clean. She too, like him, could be neat and tidy on the outside. But her room was an absolute mess. She had enough room on her bed to sleep. Other than that she always kept her laptop by her bed for research and cloths absolutely covered her floor. Her desk was just as bad with disposable food containers stacked on top of one another although she tried her best to keep her keyboard and screen clean. With much success as it turned out. She liked to tell herself that all great minds were slobs.

He kept his room clean and tidy. Cloths were folded nicely in his dresser and hung his cloths neatly in the closet. She wondered for a moment about the other side of the argument that an empty desk was the sign of an empty mind. But he had two minds inside his head. Who was to say that Volf didn't tell him to clean up? She opened his drawers to his socks and underwear. She didn't shy away but found herself smirking at the way he folded his laundry. She began to unbutton her dress shirt as she moved around his room, pulling it open but not off as she unpinned the wrapping around her breasts and midsection to let her breasts come free and help her breathing.

She let the wrapping fall freely as she walked to his closet and began to move around his many suits. She ran her fingers along the material of each suit. All were cut the same way. He had these all custom created just for him. She took one of the black jackets off the hanger and slipped in on, buttoning up the first two buttons of the three button jacket. It was soft. It was even warm on contact with her open midsection. Is this what it felt like to be him? What a foolish idea. She couldn't know just by putting on his jacket.

She walked over to the dresser and looked at herself in the mirror with the jacket on. The arms were too long and the shoulders a little too broad, but it looked nice on her. She straightened herself out and reached up to button up the first two buttons of her dress shirt. She looked at herself in the mirror again and brushed off her sleeves. She looked good. She felt good in it. Professional.

"I am detective Naoto Shirogane with the Inaba police. I need you to answer some questions"

She smirked at herself in the mirror and reached up to take her hat off and shake out her hair. She turned to look at one side and then the other, sticking her chest out and sucking in her stomach although there wasn't much to suck in. she found herself almost idolizing herself in the mirror. It was a lovely jacket. She leaned her head down to look at the inside of the jacket. Maybe there was a breast pocket.

Then the smell hit her. She turned away from it at first but slowly drew the collar of the jacket to her nose, inhaling deeply. She held the breath inside of her, memorizing the scent and she felt her body get warm inside the material around her. She savored the moment and felt her toes curl against the carpet and her legs get a little weak.

"No"

She snapped out of her stupor and took the jacket off, hanging it back up in the closet.

"No no no no no no no"

She had left her hat on the dresser and went to retrieve it but noticed the bruise developing on her chest and stomach. She opened the buttons of her shirt again and opened it up over her shoulders. Her hands trailed themselves along the base of her ribcage and along the underside of her breasts where the bruise from their fight was showing. She pressed against it and winced, breathing through her clenched teeth. He had done a number on her.

When she looked at herself in the mirror, really looked at herself, she felt a little scratch in the back of her head. Just the smallest scratch. She leaned a little closer, looking into her eyes as her hands came up, crossing her arms over her breasts to hide herself from herself. She wasn't there yet. She was close though. But not quite there yet to really accepting herself. So close. His words returned to her.

'Do you never speak to your persona?'

'When you are alone in the future, maybe you should.'

She pulled her eyes away from her body and closed them tightly, focusing just on the sounds inside her head. She didn't know how this worked. Or if it even would. She was certain Volf was nothing like her persona. There was a drastic difference in the way she got hers in comparison to the way he got his. He had never faced himself in the shadow world to get his.

"Are you there, Yamato-Takeru?"

She waited in the silence of the room, standing with her arms crossed over her chest, her hands gripping at her biceps.

"Are you able to hear me?"

Again there came no response.

"Will you speak with me?"

She waited a moment longer before sighing and scratching her head. Perhaps Volf was more different after all. Perhaps speaking with a persona wasn't her thing. Still, perhaps it was a blessing. She didn't need another voice in her head always talking with her. Always thinking with her and speaking at the most inopportune times. Always keeping her awake with chit chat.

She unbuckled the belt from her slacks and slid them off her slender legs, letting them come to rest where she stepped out of them. She pulled her socks off and left them atop her slacks, leaving her in her dress shirt and dark blue underwear. She wasn't about to sleep naked in another man's bed. Though the thought of him having done it made her blush. But it was either that or nothing. And she wasn't about to sleep on the floor.

She pulled back the blankets of his futon which hadn't been put away the night before and laid down against the sheets, pulling the blankets up against the bridge of her nose. Although the bed felt foreign, it was comfortable to lie down in. After a long day like today, it felt good to lay down period. She breathed deep and tried to relax for sleep. But then the smell hit her again which caused another flash of warmth to run across her body. She was surprised at herself this time. She didn't shy away from it. Instead she breathed in his scent again. His shampoo, his deodorant, his aftershave, and even himself lingered in the blankets. She felt her eyelids relax and her legs draw up to her chest. She could feel her heart beating faster as she sunk her head under the blankets to breathe him in. He smelt wonderful.

"You like him, don't you"

The voice caused Naoto to bolt upright in the bed and she pressed herself against the wall tightly. It was a woman's voice. It was soft and yet there was such a strength and authority behind the softness that Naoto felt herself answering before she even knew who was talking. But luckily she had caught it before any words had come out and cupped both her hands over her mouth.

There was no one in the room with her. She was alone. Had it been Yamato-Takeru? Had her persona actually responded to her?

"Yamato-Takeru? Is that you?"

She whispered as she spoke. If she was to talk to her persona, she wanted to do it quietly. But no response came from either the room or the inside of her head. She was almost certain she hadn't imagined it. But after a few minutes passed she laid back down in his bed and drew the covers up to her chin and settled down for the night. Then she drew the covers just over the bridge of her nose, falling asleep to his smell.

In the living room, Sebastian sat with his laptop in front of him, the glow of the screen giving the only light available in the room. On the screen was a middle aged man in his early 40's. He was aging quickly and had streaks of grey along the sides of his black hair. He wore a burgundy red blazer over a black dress shirt. No tie. The man sat at a thick oak desk and stared into the camera of his computer. Sebastian sat quietly in the glow of his screen. He could physically feel his cheek and eye thumping in his head. He closed his right eye to let it rest. The man cleared his throat.

"How do you feel, son?"

"My head hurts, Sir"

"How is the case going?"

Sebastian was quiet for a moment, listening to Volf's instructions in his head.

"I'm running out of ideas that remain within legal obtainability. I may have to go to a source or two. Do some traveling if necessary"

"Well as always we will handle your travel arrangements. What were you thinking?"

"Phoenix next week. And if I can't follow the trail from there, then Russia three days after"

"Just for you?"

"My partner and I, Sir"

There was a moments silence between the two before Sebastian spoke.

"Sir, I was thinking of following the money"

"How do you know there is money involved?"

"Because something like this doesn't happen for free. No one does this for free. There is always an exchange between hands."

The man leaned forward and propped his head up on his folded hands.

"You need us to gather banking records without a court order."

"On several different people from several different countries."

"A tall order…"

"I know it will be difficult, Sir"

"Sebastian, why not just send a ghost to get information from a target? Interrogation."

"The thought had crossed my mind, Sir"

"But…"

"…but there's this girl…"

The man leaned back in his chair chuckling to himself quietly.

"There's always a girl, Sebastian"

"You don't understand, Sir. She's like me."

The man was quiet as his smile began to disappear.

"You're…you're certain."

"Saw it myself, Sir"

"I see…"

Sebastian pulled his phone from his pocket and plugged it into a small chord that he had stuck into one of the USB ports.

"I'm sending you her file now"

His phone beeped when the file was sent and Sebastian watched the man's face become a little brighter when he opened up the file Sebastian had sent him.

"Naoto Shirogane, is it?"

"Yes, sir"

The man sighed as he looked over whatever Sebastian had sent him, his eyes dancing across every word Sebastian had written about her.

"And you are saying she is just as capable as you?"

"If not more, Sir. I am giving her a recommendation right now, Sir."

"You really don't need a partner, Sebastian."

"I desperately need a partner, Sir. No one else will work with me. This is the one I want. I want her to myself."

The man sighed again and rubbed his eyes, before looking back into the camera.

"Son, finish the case first and then we will discuss this with her. Until then, you keep your mouth shut. Do you understand me?"

Sebastian opened his mouth to speak but closed his mouth shortly thereafter. He nodded his head, responding quietly.

"Yes, Sir."

"Good. I'm going to head out now. We have two new applicants coming in for an interview today and I want to test their mettle"

"One question before you go, Sir"

The man removed his hand from the top of his computer and relaxed in his chair, folding his hands on his desk.

"What is it, son?"

"If….when….I find the culprit…what should I do with them?"

"The same thing you always do: listen to your heart. We'll be in touch"

"Have a good afternoon, Sir"

"Have a good morning, Sebastian"

The man closed his computer from his desk which ended the call between the two of them. Sebastian rubbed his eyes and closed the laptop. He sat quietly in the darkness of the living room for a few minutes, hands rubbing against one another, unsure of what the future was to bring.

"You could always send a ghost to get the information on their records…"

"I know, Volf. But it just seems too slow. We need information. It would be faster if we just hacked the company's files than to send someone to ghost the place."

"It would be safer. Less of a trail. Perhaps pin the blame for the hack on someone else"

"No. If the person we are dealing with is that smart, then they will expect it"

His phone buzzed on the table in front of him. He checked the screen.

'Incoming call. Number blocked'

He swiped his thumb across the screen and turned on the speaker.

"Hello?"

"Hello Detective Chastity"

"Who is this?"

"You sound a lot friendlier on the phone than I expected."

"I try to give first impressions my all"

The voice chuckled on the other end. It was a younger voice. A teenager perhaps. Or a child.

"Why aren't you sleeping? Detective Shirogane is asleep and yet you remain awake"

Sebastian felt Volf roar inside his head as he stood up, dashing across the room to the bedroom and threw it open to check on his partner. A wave of calm rushed through his body and he fell against the doorframe when he saw her on her side, sleeping peacefully and rolling over to face away from the door. He put his hand to his chest feeling his heart beating erratically as a slight laugh came from his phone. He closed the door quietly and sneered as he walked back to it, turning off the speaker and pressing it to his ear. He closed the blinds of the family room.

"Scared you didn't I? It's good to see that under all that you are human after all. At the same time, you just exposed your hand"

"Who is this?"

"Just a fan. Did the files help at all? Any closer to solving the case?"

"How did you get this number?"

"I can find anything I need for the right price, detective"

Sebastian found himself pacing through the family room back and forth between the kitchen and the large sliding door leading to the back yard. Volf whispered quietly as though something else was listening.

"It's him..."

Sebastian felt a small smile crease his face.

"It's you, isn't it? The one we're looking for"

The laugh returned and the voice clapped their hands on the other side of the phone.

"I must say, Sebastian. With that reputation of yours, I'm a little surprised that it took you this long to figure it out. What have you learned so far about me? No. Don't tell me. It ruins the fun"

"What do you want?"

"Me? I want to help you catch me, of course"

"Why?"

"Because what's the fun in doing this sort of thing if you can't get caught?"

Sebastian felt his smile stretch wider.

"You know, under any other circumstance I think you and I would be good friends."

"That would be nice, wouldn't it?"

Sebastian slumped back in his chair as he flopped down on the couch

"So…how are you going to help me?"

"I'm going to play a game with you."

"Ok. What are the rules?"

"Straight to the point. Good. The rules are very simple. Rule number one: If tell you something, you can't tell your partner or anyone else. Understood?"

Sebastian hesitated. It was only the first rule, but he didn't think he could follow it. He wasn't one for keeping secrets. And after their little talk about holding back information…

"Ok…I'll try."

"There is no try, detective. There is following the rules or being punished for breaking them"

"….."

"Still there?"

"…ok. I'll follow the rule"

"Splendid. Rule number two: You can ask me any question you like. But the more revealing the question, the more I make things hard for you"

"So…if I asked who you were…"

"I would kill you and your partner"

Sebastian cleared his throat. He didn't want that.

"So I shouldn't ask that question then. Should I?"

"That's really up to you, Sebastian"

"If we're going to be on a first name basis…and I can't ask for your first name, what should I call you?"

"Call me…that's a tough one…"

"Does this count as a question?"

"No…no no. I'll give you this one"

"You're too kind"

"Call me….call me Simon"

"Simple Simon or Simon says?"

"Ooo. Simple Simon. Please"

"Can I ask about the rules?"

"Go ahead"

"What are punishments?"

"Well the least extreme is I make things harder for you as an individual. Then we work our way up to making things harder for your investigation and your partner, then we will go to say…killing someone else…and we'll move up with killing your partner and finally killing you both"

"So there is no way to keep Shirogane uninvolved?"

"Nnnnnnnnope"

"Ok, Simon. Can I have a moment to think of a question?"

"Of course. I have plenty of minutes on my phone"

Sebastian set his phone down and leaned back in his seat, placing his hands over his eyes as he tried to think. Things just got more complicated by this game Simon was now playing. What was he to ask? How was he to determine what was a revealing question or not? He needed to play carefully. And Shirogane…he would have to lie to her. He didn't know if he could even follow rule number one for this game.

Finally after a moment he leaned forward and cleared his throat as he picked his phone up.

"I have a question, simple Simon"

"Ask away"

"When are you going to kill next? You haven't killed anyone in four weeks. We're coming close aren't we?"

"Was that two questions?"

"No. Just the one. When are you going to kill next?"

"Four days"

Sebastian was quiet for a moment. He couldn't solve this in four days. It wasn't enough time. He wasn't going to be able to save whoever it was that was going to die. He bit down on his knuckles in his frustration. Another was going to die and he couldn't do anything to stop it. Neither he nor Shirogane could stop it.

"Are you still there, detective?"

"Yes."

"I'm going to let you go now, Sebastian. When I call, I do hope you will pick up. I don't like texting as much as you do. The point is harder to get across with just letters. You need to really hear it to really feel it."

"Wait-"

The call clicked. Simon had hung up.

Sebastian slumped back in his chair and tossed his phone against the couch beside him. He chewed his tongue thoughtfully. Four days till the next murder victim. Four days to get some serious work done. And who knew how much time it would be until Simon wanted to call him again. He could feel his heart racing and he took deep breaths to try and calm himself down.

"Look at it in a different perspective, Sebastian…"

Volf was right. There was always a second way to look at it. Simon…enjoys playing games. Young voice. Teenager was looking good but hard to accept. A boy being their murderer was a little farfetched. Perhaps there had been a program running on their phone to screw their voice up. At the same time, he had paid to get his number. That would require tracking down everyone he had ever given his number too. He could think of 24 individuals and scratched out twenty that were unflinchingly loyal to him. That left four people to question. But did he have time?

With the idea that telling Naoto anything would result in punishment, he would have to play the rules of the game to the letter. He would have to hide information from her to keep her alive. Interesting. And terrible all at the same time. But Simon would know if he said anything. Which meant…he was being spied on.

His attention was automatically drawn to the television and he went for it, turning the TV around to face the wall. He pressed it hard against it. At least this way if anything happened then there was a slow down for anything to get through. Or maybe he should have just broken the damn thing and replaced it later. Make 100% sure that their murderer couldn't just walk in. Sebastian was sure that they couldn't, but that didn't help his paranoia. He unplugged the television, unsure if that would work. He didn't want to touch the screen.

"Sebastian…you need to get some sleep. Deal with this in the morning."

"But what about you? Aren't you concerned I'll dream?"

"I am. But I'm not about to leave Yamato-Takeru now that I have her. Losing her frightens me much more than a dream"

"Do you…"

He sat down on the couch and took his jacket off as well as his tie.

"…do you think I should contact Margaret?"

"Let's leave that for now and come back if and when something goes wrong"

"We're frightened aren't we…?"

"We are. But we aren't going to lose them as long as we do our job. Get some sleep"

Sebastian laid down on the couch and closed his eyes. He wasn't so sure how much sleep he was going to get. But at this point, he was more concerned with the wellbeing of his partner than anything else. He wasn't about to put her life in danger for this case. He wasn't going to put her life in danger for his cause.

"Volf…?"

"Yes, Sebastian?"

"Am I feeling this way about her because of you?"

"It's a possible theory. But if you are because of me, then what does she feel about you because of her?"

Sebastian sighed and rolled onto his side to face the wall with the TV in the corner.

"We're screwed, aren't we?"

"Most likely"

Naoto stirred for a moment and rolled over in her bed. Slowly she drew her head out from the covers, smiling happily as his scent remained in her being. She opened her eyes and was drawn back quickly with the sight of Sebastian kneeling over her. She opened her mouth to speak but felt panic run through her instead as she drew the covers up to her neck quickly with a blush that set her face on fire.

"What are-!?"

"Get up. Have a shower. Get dressed. We're going out"


	17. Chapter 17

Sebastian stood up and left the room to leave her alone. She slowly leaned up from her bed, looking at the door. How long had he been there watching her. One side of her was almost disgusted he had been there. The other reasonable half wasn't and was actually glad he had been there. She knew he wasn't normal. He wasn't watching over her to get his kicks like Teddie or Yosuke would have done. He was watching her for a different reason. She didn't know what it was, but she was thankful for it. It was a strange feeling.

A quick shower later, a dry off, the borrowing of his socks which were surprisingly more comfortable than she had thought, she was out in the kitchen. He had made her breakfast again. This morning was toast and jam with scrambled eggs and sausage. Surprisingly, she was thrilled not to be eating whatever was traditional for her. A sandwich on the way to work? Something on a stick or in a plastic bowl? This was a treat that he would make her breakfast. It…it **was **a treat.

"Thank you for making me breakfast, Sebastian. I really do appreciate it"

"I know, Naoto."

"Where are we going this morning?"

Sebastian washed the dishes in the sink as she ate.

"To complete my arm"

"What…does that even mean?"

"I said once before…"

He could feel his smile stretching across his face from ear to ear.

"…As long as we are on this case together, I consider you an extension of me. So we are going out to get you a new uniform. And a dress"

Naoto felt herself fall inside a bit at the mention of the dress. She couldn't imagine how this was going to work out. How much courage had she needed to gather in order to put on a girls uniform for Souji just a few years ago? How much more would she need to muster in order to try on a dress? How much more still would she need to wear it in public?

"Must we go through with this, Sebastian?"

"I don't think I'm asking for too much, Naoto. Do you?"

Sebastian left the kitchen momentarily and headed into the living room. He returned quickly and plopped the large manila folder in front of her plate. The work files for the murder victims. It was larger than she had expected. Somewhere in the pile was the file Sebastian had spent so much money to acquire. If it was truly worth it as he had originally stated, then she would know which file it was. So…he had made her a copy after all. He had known she would eventually give in. she wasn't sure how to feel about that.

"Get your boots on"

Naoto flipped through several papers of the document as he drove. Work history, general work ethic, yearly income, reviews… it was all here. Sebastian said nothing to let her digest the information as he drove. Whatever was in here, he and Volf had no doubt already figured out. This was simply them getting her and her soldier up to speed. There was so much to go through. She was thankful it was a bit of a drive.

She slid her fingers into the papers at specific spots she would need to go back to in order to compare pages in one document to another. No connection between them so far. Just as it had been considered before. None of the victims shared anything other than their positions in places of employment. Each had a position that had been widely desired. One victim had been a senior partner at a highly respected law firm in England; name on the door and everything. But…perhaps that was the connection. People were clamoring for these positions. So who was to say that the people who got the positions in the end weren't the killer? Or killers? No. that was too easy. But Sebastian had been right. The documents did give an idea to who was responsible for setting them up. It was almost safe to assume that the person who received the position after the death of their fellow co-worker had been the one responsible for having them killed. So…they were hiring someone else to kill them…

"My word…"

"You see it, don't you?"

"Is it really possible for there to be a business for this sort of thing?"

"I'm having my people at home check the banking records of the people who took over the positions of our victims. If someone was hired to kill them, then there will be a paper trail. If the trail matches, then we know they had someone hired to get their position in their respected companies."

"I want the position…so please kill my co-worker…"

"Just so. Hire an outside person to kill them and in return for money, you get their position."

"I can't imagine killing someone for making my way up the corporate ladder. It seems so…senseless"

"Some people are overworked. They feel undervalued. Some are desperate for the approval of others. It's not ours to sympathize. It's ours to understand."

Naoto closed the folders and leaned against the window, staring off into her reflection as they drove and chewing on her tip of her thumb. Wait a moment…

"Checking the banking records? Do you have the necessary court….you are obtaining them illegally, aren't you."

"My job, Naoto, is to fix other people's problems. Sometimes laws must be broken in order to get results."

"But it's still against the law."

"And what would you have me do?"

Sebastian slowed down the car on the empty road, pulling off to the side and putting the vehicle in park.

"Would you rather have me go through the necessary channels to get the banking records? Beg several judges from several different countries to get me access to the financial records of those who moved up in a company because a persona wielding madman is murdering their competition and is being paid off? Do you think that will turn any results in open court?"

"Sebastian, I understand your position. However-"

"My position is irrelevant, Naoto. What would you do?"

Sebastian turned from her to look out his window along the fields of the road they drove on.

"Somewhere out there is our murderer who in just a few days will kill again and we can't stop them without data. This is your town Naoto. Your home. If given the tools to bring this person down are you really telling me you would follow protocol?"

It was wrong as far as she was concerned. However…he had a point. If she had access to his tools and funding, what wouldn't she do to solve a case? They couldn't go to a judge anywhere with their theory and have them obtain anything. This way was faster, of course. But it was wrong. But it was right. She would be doing the same thing.

How long would it take legally to get these papers approved? How long would it take for the Inaba police to join with the police of any district in order to solve these murders? How many trips would need to be taken for a simple signature on a court order? She sighed loudly and returned to looking out the window.

"Ok. I understand."

He put the car back into drive and pulled back into his lane, continuing his drive.

"Sebastian, what exactly is your company?"

Sebastian's small smile ran across his face.

"Promise not to laugh?"

"I don't see how this is a laughing matter."

"Rainbow."

"Pardon me?"

"My company is called Rainbow"

Naoto sat for a moment in disbelief before she felt her smile stretch across her face and she let out a small snicker.

"It's not spelt the same."

"Your company is called Rainbow?"

"R-E-I-G-N-B-E-A-U-X. Reignbeaux"

"But it's still pronounced Rainbow"

Sebastian began to roll his eyes. He knew this was going to happen. Sebastian personally liked the name of his company, but he could see why it sounded silly to an outsider. But in the end, he couldn't help it. Originally he had found it silly as well.

"We are a private firm that works under the guise of the UN. Collectively they fund us. So in turn, we have access to almost every country in the world who has representation within the UN. It cuts down on wait times and approvals of our missions. There are 24 of us at the organization. Three of which, including myself, are persona wielders."

"There are others with personas in your organization?"

"Only two others. I am finding those with our abilities always seem to make their way up in the world. Strangest thing."

"Does anyone know? About you three?"

"The director does. But no one else. It's kind of an inside joke at the organization"

"And the organization?"

"It's public. We aren't some shadowy organization like Area 51 or anything. We exist openly and publically. It's just that we aren't well known."

Naoto wanted to get involved. She wanted to get involved now.

"Would there be a possibility of me becoming a member of your organization?"

Sebastian was a little hesitant. 'Keep your mouth shut'

"Let's finish the case we're on and then we will talk about it."

Naoto felt her heart speed up a bit. There was a chance.

When they finally arrived at the little shop, Naoto was already feeling a bit tense as she looked at the building. In the windows were lovely jackets around the shoulders of mannequins dressed up in the expensive material. She couldn't afford this. Not on her budget. And yet, there came a little sting in the back of her mind knowing full well that Sebastian was going to pay for it. 'I consider you an extension of me' he had said. Perhaps in the true face of things, he was running this investigation. Why that hadn't crossed her mind already was a mystery in itself.

She took close lead behind Sebastian as they walked into the store. She took note of the room. Jackets for the suit she was preparing to build littered the walls and several sections in the middle of the room. Slacks were off in their corner and ties and other accessories were scattered about the left and right side of the room. A man with a measuring tape approached them and she looked to Sebastian to catch a glimpse of distain on his face. As they talked quietly, Naoto looked about the room. There were a few other people in there with them. One young man with blond hair stuck out to her. It couldn't be.

"Naoto."

She snapped her head back to him, breaking her concentration on the moment.

"Yes?"

"Pay attention. This is important and I want it done right. What colors are you looking for?"

She didn't even understand what she was doing there, let alone what she wanted. She looked like a cow in front of an oncoming train. He cleared his throat as he turned to her.

"This is all about you, Naoto. What are you looking for? I know you want something nice. Volf told me so. You enjoyed my jacket, didn't you?"

She felt her face heat up.

"how-"

He touched her forehead and then his own and then his chest. Her persona was now betraying her as well it seemed. It had told Volf and Volf had told him. She sighed and looked down, pulling her hat over her eyes and nodding her head.

"Then let's work off of that"

Sebastian took his jacket off and handed it to the man. The man turned it over to look along the collar. He slowly looked up to Sebastian with a smile on his face.

"You have very good taste, Sir"

"I try very hard. We are looking for something like that. Not exactly. Different style. In….black?"

He directed the question at Naoto and she was quick to respond with a nod.

"Or dark blue. Navy preferably."

The man bowed his head for a moment before he scuttled off to grab a few jackets. She turned to Sebastian.

"Why is this so important to you, Sebastian?

"Because my job is important to me. And my partner needs to look just as professional"

He moved in, tugging up on her collar and folding it back before smoothing the material out onto her shoulders. They came to rest there. He couldn't move them. He wanted to. He wanted to just bring his arms down to his sides or his pockets where they belonged. But for whatever reason, he couldn't move his arms. Then the growl came flooding into his mind and he felt it leave his throat. It was Volf. He was enjoying the contact. He was preventing him from moving his arms.

Naoto looked up into Sebastian's eyes and felt herself freeze there. There was no persona holding her back, but she could see the strain in his eyes. She wasn't used to physical contact with another. Not like she used to be.

"Is everything alright?"

Sebastian found the willpower to remove his arms from her shoulders and brought them back down to his sides, clenching and unclenching his fists.

"It's Volf. He's reveling in you"

Naoto understood slightly but wanted to see. Wanted to see what she could do to him. She wanted to see how deeply intertwined he was with his Volf. She slowly drew her hand up and placed it on his shoulder and she felt him straighten almost immediately but she didn't pull her hand back. His breathing changed and she could feel his heart thumping in his chest. His breathing fluttered and his voice came from his throat in a quiet almost happy murr. It was fascinating. Their connection was so intricate.

He cleared his throat as he took a step from her and turned his back on her, running his hands along the sides of his head to smooth out his hair. He was uncomfortable in his own skin right now.

"What's it like, Sebastian?"

He was quiet for a moment longer than she would have liked before he responded.

"It's difficult…"

He took slow steady breaths to try to calm his heartbeat and he put his hand on his shoulder where she had touched, gripping it tightly. Volf's affection for her persona was running into him. She wondered…

"Is it affecting how you feel towards me?"

He cleared his throat again, trying to calm himself down.

"It is..."

He took a deep breath and straightened himself. He smoothed out the arms of his jacket and tugged down at the base of it.

"…but all I can do is suppress it. It's unprofessional to act in such a way."

He continued to clench and unclench his fist tightly

"It's wrong"

Naoto wanted to say something to him. Something to relax him or put whatever strain he was feeling at bay because of his persona. But there was little she could do for him in actuality. This was something he was going to have to deal with himself on his own.

Sebastian looked over her shoulder and forced a smile, causing her to turn around as the man came back to them with several jackets hooked in his fingers on their hangers. Naoto approached to take them but Sebastian beat her to it. He turned the collar back on the suits to look at the tags.

"take it back…take it back…take it back…leave that one…take it back…leave that one. I said I wanted quality. Don't try to play about with me."

The man had a genuine smile on his face as he responded

"I am sorry, Sir. I will try to find something as nice as yours."

"I would appreciate that"

"Your friend here, will he be requiring pants? A tie? New shoes? A new hat? Scarf?"

"Boots preferably. Something for outside wear and also inside. Something with traction. And a scarf would be nice. Slacks. Nice ones. I want expensive. I'm sure you understand"

The man smiled again with a bow as he walked away again. When it came down to money, a sale always made a man on commission happy.

"Naoto, take your coat off"

She unclipped the little brass buttons of her coat and handed it to Sebastian who put it on the counter of the sales desk. He took one of the two jackets off their hanger and handed it to her. It was nice and she slipped it on happily, enjoying the feeling of the material as she went to button it up.

"Take it off"

She felt herself freeze as she looked up from the buttons

"Pardon?"

"Take it off. It's not you"

She was a little disappointed as she took it off and handed it back to him. He handed her the other one and she was able to button it up.

"Turn around"

She turned her back to him.

"Take it off"

"What is the problem with this one?"

"It's not the jacket for you. You will know when it's the right one. It's not that one"

Naoto could tell this was going to be a while as Sebastian put the first jacket back on the counter and the second one back on its hanger. The man returned with two other jackets. The first one Sebastian turned away immediately, the second one however, Naoto grabbed first.

"A suit is important, Naoto. It's a symbol of authority. Even if you don't have the authority, people will often perceive that you do solely based on your uniform. You can get through doors, past ropes, even let into homes with a good enough attire."

Naoto slid the jacket on her shoulders and slipped her arms through. Black. Just as she had requested. The coat came down along her thighs and formed around her body. Several buttons ran down either side of the coat which she buttoned across one another, the buttons creating the illusion that the jacket was a single piece of fabric and did not cross over itself. The arms were a perfect length and she tugged down on them like she had seen him do. She felt good in it. It felt good.

Sebastian approached and folded her large collar back which formed into an even larger lapel. She looked up to him as he fixed it and he forced down Volf with everything he had. She could see the strain in his eyes as he tried to keep his persona under control. She felt it too. She could feel her persona reaching out to his own, evening feeling her desire to raise her hand to his shoulder again. However, she was luckier than he was not having such a strong and stable connection and could easily push it back, denying her persona the satisfaction. 'Maybe you will learn to talk to me next time' she thought.

"How do I look?"

"Professional"

He brushed her shoulders off and straightened them, nodding his head.

"You pull this off quite well, actually."

She smiled at him and he smiled back, their eyes holding on one another a little too long and Sebastian was forced to break it. He couldn't keep doing this. It was going to wear him down. Sebastian looked to the man again."

"And the rest of it?"

Naoto and Sebastian spent the next hour going through the store focused on the task at hand of putting together her new uniform. She would try on a pair of slacks that hugged her slender legs but would then take them off not liking the waist. Then she would try on another and take them off because the legs were too long and she was surprised to find herself too impatient to wait.

Sebastian reveled in the event and took a step back from the situation to watch her work through her uniform. She had caught on. It was about the feel. And she was getting the feel. But now was time for the final result and Sebastian stood behind her as she looked at herself in the mirror, turning from side to side and she looked over the uniform.

Slacks: Black

Boots: black leather that came up above her ankles.

She kept her slacks tucked into them rather than outside. An interesting choice of style to Sebastian. There was no way he could pull it off. But like the odd jacket, she looked good. The dress shirt and slacks she had come in with were tucked into a bag at his side she he reached up with his free hand to fold back the collar of her dark navy blue dress shirt. He dropped the bag to do it right with both hands, folding it back neatly.

"You will need to learn to do this on your own…"

He reached around her with both hands and tied the blue ribbon around her neck a little more neatly than she had, folding the arcs of the bow up under her collar to make the design stick out. Every fiber of his being screaming to embrace her when he fixed her collar and he had to bite his tongue almost hard enough to bleed in order to force it down. Volf was getting frisky and he would need to take care of it eventually.

"How do you feel, Naoto?"

She stared at herself in the mirror at the suit she had on. It felt…

"Good. Really good"

"Wonderful"

He looked to the man who had been helping them.

"We'll take it as is. Also, a navy blue scarf if you would, please"

"Will that be cash or check, Sir?"

"Cash. Please"

Naoto looked down at the suit she wore at the idea of the money it would cost.

"Sebastian…I can't do this"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I can't have you buy me this. It's too much."

"This isn't about you, Naoto. This is about me and people's perception of me and my partner. Look at us."

Naoto looked back up at them in the mirror as he stood beside her in his suit next to hers. They looked really good together. She was surprised.

"We look professional. Dangerous even. Authoritative. At last my arm is complete."

Sebastian hoped she bought the lie he had just fed her. There was truth in what he had just said, but he wanted her to have something nice to wear when they went out in the field together. They only had three days now until the next body was found. If these were the last decent moments they were to spend together until the next body, then he wanted them to be good.

The man returned with several different scarves and Sebastian let her decide which one she wanted before paying for it at the counter. 'Don't say the price out loud' he had said to the man. He didn't want Naoto to feel as though she owed him one. Or anything for that matter.

"Naoto?"

Sebastian turned his head to the voice as he took a moment to take the man in. He was a bit taller than Sebastian was but not by much. Sebastian could see he had strength in him. His shoulders may have been average looking in their strength, but Sebastian knew this man could throw a punch that could have knocked his head clean off if he felt like it. He noticed the small scar on the upper left corner of his eye. It wasn't the scar in his back, but it defiantly made him look tougher than he was. And Sebastian could see in his eyes and the way he held his shoulders just how tough he was.

Naoto turned to the voice. She was a little shocked to see him here. No. She **was** shocked to see him here. In a place like this.

"Kanji…"

"So it is you. You got taller since we last saw one another"

Naoto smiled a bit and reached out, shaking the man's hand.

"It's good to see you too, Kanji. What are you doing here?"

"Oh. Uh, I got a business partnership with Junes. They want me to sell my toys in the shop"

Naoto couldn't hold back her smile.

"A business partnership? You?"

"Yea. I know, right? I have to show some people how to make certain parts of the dolls and take a few business trips to get it started and everything, but yea. They hit the shelves in the New Year. So I am going to be busy for the next while."

"You? A business deal with Junes?"

"I know I know. Ma told me to come down here and get something nice to wear. She's taking me to dinner tonight. Want to get something special, ya know?"

Sebastian's voice caused Kanji to turn

"So you are the one from the fabric store she told me about?"

Kanji's demeanor changed almost instantly. He had that defensive offensive look in his eye and his smile disappeared.

"Who's the suit?"

Naoto cleared her throat and indicated Sebastian.

"Kanji Tatsumi, this is Detective Sebastian Chastity. He was brought in from the west to help me with the investigation I have been working on"

Sebastian didn't offer his hand and neither did Kanji. They simply stared at one another. Sebastian felt his small grin stretching on his face whereas Kanji simply stared, the sound of his fist clenching could have been an explosion in the silence that fell between them as they simply stared. Naoto only watched the two as the event unfolded. If there was a fight to break loose, she was going to have to call for backup as it would have been too dangerous for her to get involved.

She knew that Kanji was a very capable brawler. She had seen him fight countless times against shadows and people during their previous investigation together. She knew what he was capable of. Sebastian on the other hand she had never actually seen fight. She had experienced his cunning and even his strikes, but she had never actually witnessed him fight against a person or shadow.

Kanji was the first to speak.

"Let me be the bigger man here"

Kanji offered his hand.

"Kanji Tatsumi"

"Sebastian Chastity"

Sebastian offered his hand, gripping Kanji's tightly. They weren't going to fight, but Naoto found herself staring at their hands as they gripped one another's, their knuckles turning white and their arms shaking with strain as they both attempted to hurt the other. Kanji just stared down Sebastian who smiled back with his cheeky grin.

"Stop it you two"

Sebastian smiled a little wider and Kanji felt a small one begin to grow on his own face before they let each other go.

"You're alright, Sebastian"

"You aren't too bad yourself, Mr. Tatsumi. Now that we are friends…"

Sebastian indicated his suit.

"Would you like some help picking out something to wear to your dinner?"

"I'd like that"

It had taken another hour for Sebastian and her to pick something out for Kanji within his budget. Sebastian didn't like working with sub-par materials and company brands, but he had to deal with it. As socially awkwardly friendly as Kanji was being, Sebastian could smell the persona in the man and had several times glanced to Naoto to speak to her quietly of it, but those several times she had shot him down not wanting to speak of it in front of him. He assumed there was a story behind his persona best left unmentioned. If that is what she desired then he would honor the request.

Kanji had settled for his attire. Black slacks that hugged his form and defined his legs. Black leather shoes, a dark navy blue dress shirt with a black vest and a white tie. He wasn't sure if he looked better with it around his neck or tied up. Sebastian had to admit he cleaned up quite well.

The time they spent with Kanji had been so brief. Sebastian would have liked to have dinner with the man and talk to him. Really talk. He wanted to know why Volf in his head had been a little excited about the man and it was a shame he wouldn't get the chance. Naoto and Sebastian said their goodbyes and headed out the store back to the car.

Sebastian tossed her the keys as she approached the door of the vehicle.

"I'm going to go get your dress"

Naoto felt her head fall down

"You can wait in the car if you want"

"b-but don't you need my measurements?"

"I already have them"

Naoto felt her jaw clench. There was no way he had the right ones.

"How?"

"When we had our little fight earlier and I punched you in the stomach. When you fell against me I took your measurements."

That wasn't fair. He was cheating. And this wasn't getting any better. She didn't want to do this. She never wanted to agree with it in the first place.

"Sebastian…"

"I want to dance with you Naoto."

She leaned her head up to look at him. His face was serious and his smile gone.

"I really want to dance with you. "

"Why?"

"Who doesn't want to dance with a pretty girl?"

At the feeling of her face heating up she fumbled with the keys to try and open the door to the car and dropped them. Her face bright red now, she leaned down to pick up the keys and opened the door, climbing in quickly and pulling her hat down over her eyes. She looked up only once he had walked from the car, walking further down the street to the next store where women's formal was sold.

She sat quietly in the car, hands crossed over her chest as she replayed his words in her head. After a moment she turned the rearview mirror over to her and looked at herself. She didn't see it. She pulled her hat from her head and tried several different faces.

"Pretty am I?"

"He thinks so"

The voice caused her to straighten in her chair and pull her hat back on. She looked around. No one to talk to her.

"I think so too"

Yamato-Takeru…

"Is it you?"

"It is"

"So this is what it's like…"

"Focus Naoto"

"What?"

"He thinks you're pretty. I think so too. And so do you"

Naoto slumped in her seat

"Stop acting like that. It's embarrassing"

Naoto straightened in her seat and pulled her hat above her eyes again.

"That's better. Now, what's the problem sweetheart?"


	18. Chapter 18

Prisoner CJ4463 was laying quietly on the floor of his cell, eyes half glazed over with sleep. He hadn't been sleeping well for the last few weeks and last night hadn't been any better. He turned over in his bunk and tried to close his eyes. He knew no sleep would come, but he would rather just close his eyes and accept that no sleep would come than to bother to cling to the idea. There was no point in the end.

His cell was no larger or smaller than the rest of the people on his third floor of the prison. He could look out among the other inmates in their cells through the small window of his door. Vicious creatures he despised for their acts. People he wanted nothing to do with. It wasn't that he was above them, but his actions, though heinous, were nothing to what these people had done. The murder of children, rape, arson resulting in the death of certain individuals, and burglary. Drug dealers, maniacs, and people who would rip your tongue out just for clearing your throat at an inopportune time. Though he had been there long enough to know his place, he was almost certain he didn't belong there. His crimes were terrible. At least that's what he had been told by the judge. And yet in the end, he was certain he didn't belong here with these people.

Night was always so difficult for him. While everyone was asleep, murmuring, snoring, screaming, or silent as the grave, he was wide awake. He prayed for the day that his lack of sleep would cause his body to shut down and he could pass out for several hours and get some rest. His eyes burned with exhaustion. He knew that tonight was not the night it was going to happen, but he turned onto his other side to face the wall and sighed, trying to relax.

But then there came another noise. Footsteps. He had been in this cell long enough to know what a guards footsteps sounded like in the midst of the night. But this wasn't a guards footsteps. Now that he thought about it, where were the guards? He leaned up from his spot to look outside the door. There were no guards on the floor. He couldn't see a guard on any of the floors when he looked about. That was odd. There was always something on the floor. But, why not this time?

He listened for the footprints as they drew closer, loud on the smooth hard floors. It was probably nothing. Most likely it was just a guard or some authority figure. No one ever took interest in him. He knew to keep his mouth shut and his eyes open in this place. And yet, there was the scratch in the back of his mind of paranoia that told him that it was not only coming closer, but for him.

And sure enough, the figure, flashlight in hand in the blackness of the prison, stopped in front of his cell. His eyes were adjusted for the night, but it was difficult to see the figure before him clearly. But the person was short. Or rather, shorter than someone should have been. He couldn't make out any distinguishing features or gender of the figure through the blackness. He needed the light. He wanted to see this person. The flashlight clicked on and off several times in front of the door and he stood up from his spot, wondering over to the thick metal. Was the figure outside trying to tell him something?

At the sound of the faint and quiet click, the door to the cell opened quietly and the figure walked in, shining the light on the cell owner's face. He drew a hand up to his eyes to shield them from the light.

"Who are you?"

The figure responded with a quiet hush and he could see the figure raise a finger to his lips.

"Shhhh…"

The figure took a step to the side and extended his arm down the walkway. He was free. Slowly the man in the cell stood up and walked to the edge of the prison cell to take a look down the walkway in the blackness. A guard was making his way down and he ducked back into his cell. The figure at the doorway grabbed his arm and pulled him onto the walkway, pushing him forward to walk. The guard stood at the end with his flashlight aimed at the ground to guide them down.

The man from the cell walked past the guard who eyed him up. He was sure this man would have struck him across the face if he could have, but whatever was going on, he was thankful that it was not the case. The guard turned in front of him and led him down the walkway, down the two flights of steps, and down into one of the corridors.

"What's going on?"

"Shhhh…"

The figure behind him hushed him again. Was this a break out? Or maybe an execution? The very idea sent a chill up his spine and he began to look about in hopes of finding some sort of weapon to defend himself. The guard in front of him bumped his knuckle against the glass to the man inside the security booth who turned and nodded his head. There was a quiet click and the bars in front of them swung open. The trio stepped through and closed the gate behind them. There was light now and he turned to look at the figure behind him who pushed against his back.

"Eyes forward…"

He sighed but turned his head to look back at the guard in front of him, not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. This was a break out. He could feel the smile stretch from ear to ear.

"This is a break out, isn't it?"

The person behind him spoke this final time.

"If you speak again I'll pull your tongue out. Be quiet"

He was quiet now and simply smiled as he was being lead out of the hallway as the second door of bars was opened. The guard in front of him walked up to another smaller office than the security booth and knocked against the glass to the guard inside who was busy on his phone. The guard stood up and reached under his desk for a package, placing it on the table and opening it to their contents.

"Prisoner CJ4463... Socks, black. Dress shirt, white. Loafers, brown. Dress pants, black. Watch, leather. Wallet, black. Cellphone, white. Can't say I'm going to miss you."

He smiled and took his belongings. The voice behind him spoke.

"Get dressed"

"Here?"

"I said if you speak again…"

"Ok ok"

The man began to get dressed; slipping off his prisoner's uniform and putting on his old cloths. He was happy to be in them. Almost felt like himself again as he did. It had been a long time since he had been in actual cloths. Let alone his own. He sat down on the ground and slipped on his loafers, watching the figure who had been behind him pull out three separate envelopes from the breast pocket of his jacket and hand them to the men.

"Here is your payment in full as we agreed. Make sure the nice man on the other side of the bars gets his. Or I'll know. And remember: you saw nothing; everything was fine when you checked earlier. Understand?"

The two men nodded and tucked their envelopes into their pockets. The one man went back to playing on his phone while the other nodded to the figure and returned to his duties, undoubtedly off to make sure the third man received his payment. The figure now turned to his prisoner fellow and smiled, offering his hand to help him up. He took the hand, pulling himself to his feet. No talking was still required it seemed.

The boy in front him smiled a little wider and brushed off the man's shoulders and straightened his collar.

"A suit is important. Make yourself presentable for fuck sake…"

The man reached up to fix his tie, pulling it up comfortable and fixing the buttons on his shirt.

"Better"

The boy turned from him and led him down the hallways of the prison towards the front doors. He could see outside. He could see the front doors that he had been led in when he arrived. But the boy grabbed him firmly by the arm and led him down another hallway instead. He followed, not wanting to question or screw up whatever play this boy had made as they made their way down several hallways and through two security doors. Every move the boy took was precise and the boy pulled him along, keeping him just out of sight of the security of the building. He had been planning this for some time it would have seemed.

Finally they reached their destination and the boy straightened his jacket before opening the door to the room, allowing him to walk in first. The boy entered after him, locking the door behind him. The lunch room?

"why-"

Air was suddenly drained and his voice fell short as the boy turned and struck him hard in the diaphragm which caused him to keel over onto his hands and knees, coughing and gasping for breath.

"I said for you to shut up"

The boy reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a small silver object, flipping it to the side for a blade to flip out from its container.

"You speak again until I say so and I really will cut your tongue out. Understand me?"

He coughed several times before nodding his head. He understood the boy was serious. And dangerous. He himself had no weapon.

The boy snapped the blade back and slid it back into his breast pocket, offering his hand to help him up. He took the hand and pulled himself to his feet, hand clutching his stomach. The boy moved along one of the walls to the lunch tables, beckoning him over. Eventually he caught up with the boy, his legs a little shaky from the powerful strike. He was surprised he had been that strong in his punch.

"Get in"

He looked up to the television along the wall and turned his attention to the boy who nodded his head with a small smile. He smiled back and strode forward, placing his hand inside the cool screen of the television. He sighed happily as though beginning a song and stepped through the screen, disappearing from view.

As he stood up from the cold concrete beneath his feet, he stretched out and hopped from side to side, absolutely ecstatic to be back inside. At the pinging noise, he turned to grab onto the boys hand, helping him through the screen of the black tube television he crawled from. He brushed the boy off and straightened his white tie for him.

"Thank you. You can speak freely now if you wish. Try to stay quiet for the next time there is a jail break, would you?"

He followed after the boy as he looked around. There were in an apartment building. No. A business office of some sort. Before carpet was to be laid down. White walls almost freshly painted with the most subtle of aromas of the type of paint he had used. Tube florescent lights hung from the ceiling and there were stacks of folding chairs littered about the place. He was never one to truly question why this world did what it did or why certain places were constructed the way they were. He simply accepted them.

The boy weaved his way through the stacks of chairs to what he assumed was the boys office and he followed closely. The boy turned left, then left again, then right, and headed down the fire escape of the building to the bottom floor but two floors above the car park. He followed closely behind him into the foyer of the building. Their shoes clacked along the marble floor.

The scent in the air had changed and he picked up on it. It smelt…delicious. His stomach rumbled with hunger. A lack of sleep had killed his appetite. But maybe it had just been the prison food.

"Hungry?"

"Totally"

The boy turned the corner to the front entrance way of the building. Glass swinging doors were locked along the front of the building's entrance. He approached the little dinner table he had set out for them. The oak table was thick with a red table cloth with small red tassels along the ends of it. There was silverware, bright and shiny juxtaposed to the red cloth beneath it. The table spread looked expensive with its crystal glasses, a bottle of red wine in the middle with the main dish covered on a shiny silver tray. A salad rested comfortably in a glass dish to the side, freshly made. It was almost as though someone else had made the meal and brought it into the world for them to enjoy. He felt his heart skip a beat when he saw the buns that had been prepared in their little bread bowl, the butter off to the side under a class case.

"Sit"

He didn't need to be told twice and sat down at the chair opposite the one the boy had taken. He didn't move, unsure if he should have waited for anything before he helped himself.

"Go on then. Before it gets cold"

He reached for the bread, taking a large bun and plunking it on his plate. The boy reached for the covered dish and pulled it back. The dish was unmistakable: Spicy Stir-Fry of his favorite vegetable. He reached out for the tongs in the bowl and took a large helping. He felt himself smile. There were bits of chicken and shrimp in it. The boy stood up and approached with the bottle of red wine, showing him the bottle before pulling the cork and pouring him a glass.

The boy didn't eat with him, simply sat on the opposite side of the table to watch. On a few occasions as he ate, he glanced away from the boy to look out the glass doors at the multitude of shadows that had begun to gather outside. He was a little hesitant at the surroundings. Regardless of the fact he had a persona. He looked back to the boy who was leaning back in his chair, cleaning his nails.

"Never mind them. They know better than to bother us"

He looked back out the glass door when the boy looked out it and shoed the shadows away with a wave of his hand. He watched as the shadows skittered and clawed and dragged and flew from the buildings doorway.

"Who are you?"

The boy smiled as he stood from his seat, taking the bottle of wine with him and drinking from it as he walked to the door.

"Does it really matter who I am? After tonight do you really care who as to why?"

"I would still like to know."

"I'm not going to tell you"

"Ok…"

The boy opened the door to the building and drew his fingers to his lips, letting out a loud whistle. There was silence after the sound echoed through the blackness of the outside.

"Ask the other question…"

"Why did you break me out?"

"Because I want your help"

"Let me get this straight. You break me out of prison which cost you…how much…?"

"Ten thousand a guard"

"…ok. So Thirty-Thousand dollars to break me out and you expect me to help you?"

"I expect you to beg on your hands and knees how to help me…"

He took another mouthful of his stir-fry and dabbed the napkin against his mouth

"I'll pass"

"I'm not asking for you to help. I'm telling you that you will help"

"And what are you going to do if I say no?"

"I'll kill you"

He chuckled for a moment as he listened to the boy

"Really now? You brought me into this world knowing full well who I was and you think you can threaten me?"

"I do indeed"

He smiled and slumped back in his chair, reaching for his crystal glass to take a sip of the wine. It had been such a lovely dinner.

"Ok. Let's just say I agreed to this. What sort of help do you need?"

"I need someone dead"

"Oh really. I suppose that's where I come in?"

"In a sense. There are certain rules that must be followed in the game I'm playing. But I'm sure you will be interested in the target."

He leaned forward in his chair.

"Tell me more"

The boy waited as a small envelope on a thin white line lowered down in front of him. He tugged on the line twice and it pulled itself back up out of sight as he took the file. He walked back into the building, closing the door behind him, and opened the envelope, setting it down in front of his guest.

The man slid out the single sheet of paper inside. It was a photo. He knew the face. That girl. That hat. That watch.

"Her…"

The boy sat down in his seat.

"Interested now?"

He turned the photo around in his hand a few times before setting it down on the envelope.

"You want me to kill her?"

"No. I want your help in killing her and her new partner"

"She's got a new partner?"

"She does."

The man slumped back in his seat, running his hand through his hair.

"I don't think I can help with this"

"I need help. With you by my side I don't think I can lose this one"

He tapped his fork against the side of his plate a few times as he considered the offer. The man had broken him out of jail, fed him, took him to a safe haven, and now was asking for a favor. Was he really in a position to say no? He felt his smile returning

"What can I do to help?"

The boy smiled and stood from his seat. He made his way to the glass door of the building and opened them. When the creature from above dropped down quietly, he felt his heart skip a beat. It was massive. Easily larger than any other shadow he had seen before. The yellows, reds, and blacks of its skin made it look like something out of a cartoon meant for adults.

"What the hell is that?"

"**She** is a friend of mine."

The boy approached the creature and kissed the beast where the man assumed the creature's head was.

"Go on, daring. Don't be shy. He said he's willing to help"

The beast hissed and its teeth clattered together as it pushed its large head between the doors, trying to get at the man. He stood up and pushed his chair away. What was this? The creature let out several hisses as it began to struggle to get inside the door, the drywall above the door starting to crack and splinter with its force as it began to smash against the building to try and get inside.

"Wait a second…"

"Damn…she can't get inside the building. Should have thought of this beforehand. Oh well. Hindsight 2020 right?"

"I-"

"I need you dead. Sorry. But if you really want to help, that's what it's going to have to come down to."

"You broke me out of prison just for that?"

"Well yea. I have a plan I need to put into motion. You just happen to be one of those pieces. Promises to keep. Deadlines to meet."

The man smiled a bit as he watched the large creature try to push its way through the glass doors of the building. Even if it could squeeze inside, it wasn't as though it could get him in this building. The boy reached out to the creature and ran his fingers along its rounded head and through its hair.

"It's ok, darling. I'll deal with it"

The boy turned his attention back to the man, admiring the smile he had on his face. The man shook his head and couldn't get rid of his smile.

"Do you have any idea who you're messing with, kid?"

The man opened his arms, the light breeze beginning to cause the base of his slacks and his jacket to begin to flutter.

"Do you have any idea what I'm capable of?"

The blue light he had missed so much began to glow around him as the figure he had kept inside of him for two whole years began to appear behind him. The creature faded into existence, tossing its long black spear from one hand to the other before twisting it in its hand and behind its back. Its long black robe fluttered only slightly with the wind of the summon and came to rest against its black legs. The persona looked at the boy with its yellow eyes hidden behind its silver faceplate before spinning its spear around and thrusting it outward, the tip of the spear with its glinting silver pointing towards the boy.

The boy smiled at the person and felt himself lick his lips.

"So…so that's what it looks like…"

The man crossed his arms, smiling at the boy

"Kill him. Make it quick."

The Persona turned its spear and dashed towards the boy with a spin to its spear, swinging it hard to cleave the boy from shoulder to hip. The man smirked as he watched but felt his smile disappear when the boy rushed the persona and spun and twisted his body to avoid the spear. The boy planted one of his feet hard into the ground and spun around after passing behind the warrior, striking the persona in the back with a powerful kick to its black cloak. The persona stumbled forward and into the jaws of the beast in the doorway, several thick strands of white bursting out through its mouth and piercing through the personas arms, chest, and legs.

The man let out a scream when the strands stabbed through the persona and began to pull it towards its jaws. The silver faced persona tried to cut at the strands of white with its spear but the pierce had made his arms lose their strength. It couldn't fight back. The strands retracted quickly into the beasts' mouth and pulled the persona over its lower jaw, the monsters' teeth biting down hard as the persona fell into its maw.

The man felt his body get weak and he fell to his knees and over onto his back as the jaws bit through the persona and cut it in half at the waistline. The legs twisted about for a moment before coming to a rest and faded into nothingness with a small glint of red light.

The boy smiled down at the man on his back before he turned back to the creature in the doorway and wrapped his arms around its head, hugging what he could of the creature's large head.

"You did beautifully, darling. Did you enjoy it?"

The fight had been so lackluster to the boy. And here he had been hoping for a fight. But all it had taken was a simple kick. Overconfidence in the man had cost him the fight. Too long away without a fight. What a complication.

The creature seemed to purr quietly as he hugged and stroked at its round head, taking care not to touch the creature's eyes. Then the creature stopped and let out a hiss which caused him to turn back to the man. He was gone. The boy was surprised. He didn't think someone who had a persona would be able to last long after that. Not after such a blow to ones…connection.

He walked toward where the man had once been and reached down to touch the small bloodstain that was on the floor. He was bleeding internally. Good. A good start. He followed the blood trail through a few of the offices of the building and into the stairwell. He was a fighter this one. He was honestly impressed with such zeal.

Eventually he found the man in the stairwell, crawling up the stars on his hands and knees, blood seeping from his lips. He grabbed the man by the back of his jacket and pulled him up the stairs. It seemed to go on forever and he was too weak to fight back. The blow that had been delivered he didn't know if he would recover from. He had never felt something like this before.

His body was shaking as though it was cold, his lips trembling, his arms and legs were heavy. It was as though he had the flu and a fever with severe dehydration. He could never remember feeling so awful. It was though he was dead inside.

After what seemed like an eternity of being dragged around the buildings stairwell, the boy pulled him up the final set of stairs and through the big metal door at the top. Standing on top of the office building and dragging him now across the gravel of the rooftop, his body now limp, and his feet dragging on the gravel as he was pulled. He wasn't going to survive. He knew that.

The boy pulled him up along the edge of the building. The man's eyes were heavy as he stared down from the top of the building. Was this how he was supposed to go? All that he had accomplished in his life, all the things he had seen and done all came down to being thrown off a building?

"You will set in place an event that will be a beautiful thing to hear about. She will squirm in her skin because of you. It's going to be so much fun to hear the anger and confusion it brings."

The man coughed and felt himself lose strength in his head, letting it hang limply now as he struggled to stay awake. The boy pulled him over the edge of the building and threw him off. This was it.

The man closed his eyes as the world around him grew black and the boy on the rooftop grew further and further away in his vision as he fell and the wind rushed past his ears in a scream and he had that lifting feeling in his chest and stomach. But even in his current state, he couldn't scream when the white strands from the creature which clung to the side of the building caught him and their sharp blade like strands cut through his suit and into his skin, staining his clothing red along his entire body as the creature wrapped him in it.

The boy smiled from the rooftop and the eyes of the boy and the creature met. The boy nodded and the creature hissed at her newly confined prey as it opened its maw and pushed its thick front teeth into the man's chest just below the neckline.

The boy laughed from the edge of the building as the man was bitten.

"Not yet, my friend. Still two days to go…"


	19. Chapter 19

With fingers outstretched, he ran them gently along the strings around him as he glanced about at the photos on the walls. So far, everything was turning out quite well. Motive had been assumed and all he had to do was wait for his phone call.

"Nervous, Sebastian?"

"A little bit"

"So am I"

"Volf showing a more human trait? That's hard to accept"

The growl he responded with faded as they went back to work. All the two of them could do was kill time until their phone call. Sebastian looked at the clock, 4:30. He had fifteen minutes until he had to pick up Shirogane from home. In the meantime, it couldn't hurt to go over the facts of the case thus far. He turned back to the strings, following them to their appropriate picture.

"If Simon keeps to his word then the next victim will show up tomorrow afternoon some time. I wonder if he already has his victim waiting or if the poor bastard doesn't even know yet"

"It cannot be determined at this point. All we can do is continue to move forward in our investigation. Sebastian?"

"Yes love?"

"What are you hoping to achieve going over the case again?"

Sebastian sighed and dropped his fingers from the strings he had hooked them around

"I'm hoping I missed something. Something that will lead me to him. But I don't think I have. He operates outside of the usual boundaries. Instead of using a car or boat or plane, something easily traceable, he uses the shadow world where there is no trace. Instead of killing with weaponry or poison which, again, can be traced, he uses shadows which cannot. If I am to build a case up to have him arrested for murder when I catch him, I need to start gathering some physical tangible evidence. He won't be convicted on what we have as is. There is so much to work with in understanding the case and motives-"

His phone buzzed on the table near the couch. He picked up it checking the number. It was his boss.

"-But very little to figure out where Simon is. It's fucked basically"

He slid his thumb across the screen and placed the phone to his ear, clearing his throat.

"Sir. What do you have for me?"

Sebastian checked the time and pressed the phone between his ear and his shoulder, holding it there as he straightened his tie and buttoned up the two buttons of his jacket.

"We were able to get into the banking records of three of the co-workers of the victims."

"And?"

"Two of them had paid out to a second party account in the amount of fifty thousand dollars."

"Ok. This is good. And the third?"

"The third had no such record"

"Damn. I was hoping for a better result."

"Hold on, Sebastian. We didn't like the look of it so I called up the company myself and asked if there was competition for the position other than the woman who got the job."

"And?"

"There had been. So we checked the records of the woman who didn't get the job."

Sebastian felt his smile returning

"You found it didn't you?"

"Fifty thousand to a second party account"

"Wonderful. So my assumptions were correct. Good. We now have groundwork. I feel sorry for him to have paid out fifty thousand dollars and not get the position. Am I to work on a second case to have those people arrested?"

"No. We can take care of those ourselves. You focus on your case."

"Understood sir"

Sebastian finished putting on his shoes and headed out the door to his car.

"What of the other victims' co-workers sir?"

"We will take care of it Sebastian. For now I believe it is safe to assume that they were killed for money in exchange for the position at their places of employment."

"Understood, Sir. I will continue to update you as the case progresses."

"Thank you, Detective. Have a good evening"

"And you have a good morning, Sir"

Sebastian slid his phone back into his pocket as he sat down in the car and snapped on his seatbelt, talking to Volf as he drove.

"Motive has been established it would seem, Sebastian"

"It would. But I'm not sure I'm satisfied with it. It just seems a bit sloppy for Simon to leave a trail like that. Cash in hand would have seemed more appropriate. He knows to cover his tracks. Be untraceable. But this is…lazy."

"Everyone gets lazy at some time."

"Perhaps"

"But…"

"But it seems entirely out of character. He stays above it all. He only gets his hands dirty inadvertently…"

As Sebastian drove, he pulled his cellphone from his pocket, sending a text to his boss's cellphone.

'Take extra precautions when tracing the second party account of our killer. It seems out of place. TXT me if anything changes"

"If my hunch is correct, I at least want to make sure we check our corners. Make sure my employers are covered. The last thing we need is an international incident if it's in another country. Too much publicity might damage us in the long run."

"Agreed. But for now, I would suggest you put your phone away for the evening and enjoy your dinner"

"And I hope you enjoy yourself as well, Volf"

Sebastian pulled up to the gate of the Shirogane estate, putting the car in park.

The two story building was right up his alley as far as class was concerned. It was a wonder how bored Naoto must have been day in and day out in such a large building with no one but her Grandfather to talk to in the building. He had remembered that she had explained he was on the other side of the continent on business in England. Whatever business he was attending to was no business of Sebastian's so he wasn't one to ask. Whatever business the elder Shirogane was working on he was certain it was just as important as his own. So that made him wonder more so how bored she was at home with no one there to talk to. He would have loved to see inside.

Many rooms of the house had large windows facing the outside world. No doubt they were big rooms. After generations of the Shirogane lineage, he could only wonder how vast, if it was at all, the fortune was. The white house had brown trim, shaped like an 'L' with a lovely garden out front of its gate and large driveway. He wondered if they hired a gardener to take care of the grounds. Did they have a grounds keeper? So many questions he would have loved to know the answer to. Details details.

He pulled his cellphone from his pocket and opened the messaging box to send her a text

'I'm here'

He waited quietly for a minute. Then two. Then three. He sent her another.

'It's rude to keep me waiting'

After a moment he looked down at the message she had sent.

'Could you come to the door?'

The gate buzzed and began to swing open to grant him access to the grounds. He turned the car back on and drove down the long driveway towards the front door, putting the car in park outside but keeping it on.

Naoto cracked the door to her house and peaked out from the space in the wood to him. She looked around momentarily.

"Is it safe?"

"Of course it is!"

He needed to yell over the sound of the car and couldn't shake the smile on his face.

She closed the door for a moment and looked at herself in the mirror of the closet. Her hands were shaking and her mouth was dry. She could feel her heart beating in her chest and ears as she took deep breaths. She looked at herself in her dress, her hands balled into fists along the material at her hips. How long had it taken her to get into it? Every moment that crawled by as she pulled it on had seemed like an eternity. It had taken her at least thirty five minutes to gather the courage to put it on and another hour just to get it on. It had fit perfectly. He had done well though she hated to admit it.

"Calm down, sweetheart. You will be just fine."

"I'm scared"

"It's alright to be scared. But you know there is nothing to really fear. Now grab your coat and get out there"

Naoto threw her jacket over her to cover up before opening to the door and hurrying into the car with him. She kept her face turned away from him, unable to look at him with his smile.

"Good girl. Now try and enjoy yourself alright? He's trying to reach out to you"

Naoto nodded to herself, wanting desperately to reach up and pull the hat she wasn't wearing down over her eyes.

"Good evening, Shirogane"

Naoto swallowed hard before speaking in return

"G-good evening, Sebastian"

The trip to Jack of Ace had been a mostly silent one. Halfway through the trip Volf had instructed Sebastian who took a quiet long sniff of the air. She was wearing perfume. It had caused his hands to grip tightly onto the steering wheel and his lips to pull back slightly over his teeth. Naoto had noticed in the reflection of the window she had been staring out of as they traveled, Yamato working on keeping her calm and collected in this most of uncommon situations to be in.

Eventually near the end of the trip, Sebastian cleared his throat to break the air.

"My sources came back with the banking records"

Naoto turned only partially from the window to look at him from the corner of her eye

"And the results?"

"Our assumption was correct. A transfer of fifty thousand dollars was made from account to account"

Naoto smiled and turned to look back out the window. This was good. Now they had motive.

"This is good news. So what is our next step?"

"Next we work our way backwards through the murders. My people are already going through the accounts to attempt to find the owner of the account the money was transferred to. IF we find them, then we may have our killer. I personally am against the idea that when someone dies in the shadow world that they are transported here always. I have a theory that someone is traveling in the shadow world to dump the bodies here."

"Would our murderer really go to all this trouble?"

"I don't see why not"

"Why here? Why here of all places? If they decided to let them die in their own cities, it would have been an invisible business. It's almost as though they want us to find them. Us. Specifically."

"Perhaps it's for the best that way."

When the two of them entered the establishment, Sebastian was greeted with exactly what he had hoped for. A nice large hardwood dance floor with a live band that was tuning up for their performance. Guitar player, saxophone, piano, drums, and a singer. Lovely. The two story building was just as lavish as he had hoped with several large chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, many tables littered around the large ground floor with pretty silver wear and a large bar off against the back wall. He smiled to himself as he held the door open for Naoto.

"Lovely…"

A middle aged woman behind the desk smiled to them both, bowing her head

"Welcome to Jack of Ace. Do you have a reservation?"

Sebastian approached the desk, smiling at her.

"Chastity for two"

The woman punched a few keys into her computer with a small smile as his details came up.

"We have been expecting you. Your table by the dance floor has been prepared. Would you care to follow me?"

Sebastian nodded his head and turned to look at Naoto who was fixing her hair in front of the window, desperately trying to get it out of the shape of her hat. Sebastian cleared his throat and she snapped out of her stupor, following quickly behind him as they walked to their table around several other guests, servers, and other employees to their table.

Sebastian thanked the lady before she left and pulled Naoto's chair back for her to sit. She kept her eyes down as she sat down and he moved for his seat. He folded his hands on the table as he watched her. She pulled her jacket tightly around her to cover herself up. He just sat there as he watched her get more and more uncomfortable with the situation. Eventually her eyes slowly turned to meet his and she bit her lower lip in anxiety. But he smiled in return.

"I'm not going to Judge you, Naoto. That's not what I do. If I have to wait to help you out of your shell then I will gladly wait."

Naoto looked back down, slowly lifting the jacket from her shoulders but found her hands shaking slightly at the peak. She couldn't do it. She froze up. A warm feeling swept over her chest and stomach. Like she had been kissed on the neck, or held tightly. Yamato was easing her fear.

"Come on now sweetheart. Let him have a look at you."

Naoto closed her eyes tightly and on shaking legs, stood up to remove her coat. With shaking hands, she let the jacket fall from her shoulders and she hung from the back of her seat, turning back slowly to face Sebastian.

Under normal circumstances Volf would have let out a growl or a sneer at the sight of a pretty girl in a nice dress. But this was not a normal circumstance. Her milky shoulders were only barely covered at the neck with the thin blue straps that held her dress up and curled around her neck. Her back was almost entirely exposed down to the very base of the small of her back. A long slit had been made at the side which exposed the side of one of her legs to above her knee. The navy blue of the dress matched her hair and looked magnificent juxtaposed to her pale skin. The material that would have covered her cleavage was gone and exposed her collar bone and down between her breasts. There was still imagination to be had. She looked…sexy. Which was strange for him to see with her. Volf made no noise. Most likely just as awestruck as he was.

Naoto sat down with her eyes down, eventually meeting his. His expression caused her to blush and turn away, bringing her arms up to cover herself as she crossed them.

"You're staring, d-detective"

It took a moment for her words to reach him and he shook his head, clearing his throat. He needed something to drink. He needed something to drink now and waved the waitress over.

"Scotch on the rocks please…"

He reached for the drink menu and glanced quickly down the list, translating as quickly as he could. He needed the drink.

"…and a bottle of whatever this is."

Naoto didn't look up to the waitress as she spoke

"I would like what he is ordering. If you wouldn't mind"

It would have seemed that Naoto needed a drink as well. The woman bowed her head and left to get them their drinks, leaving two folders on the table for them to choose their dinner. Naoto kept her head turned away from him, arms still crossed over her chest. He felt guilty.

"Shirogane, If you are unhappy with this arrangement then I would be only too happy to take you home…"

Naoto glanced up to him and sighed, slowly lowering her arms as her soldier whispered to her.

"Stop acting like a child. He's trying to be nice and make you comfortable. At least pretend to be enjoying yourself."

Naoto straightened in her seat and slowly lowered her arms to rest on the table, away from her

"This is difficult for me, Sebastian…"

"I know, Naoto. I feel guilty putting you through it"

Naoto felt a small smile crack on her lips. She was being considered. She felt herself relax a bit. Perhaps it was better just to talk about it. Calm her down.

"I have never really been in a dress before. The most feminine I ever really dressed before was once in high school. Apart than that one time…"

Sebastian smiled at her as he rested his chin on his hands. She smiled back, having calmed down a little

"You look beautiful, Shirogane"

Usually she knew she would have looked away with a blush, embarrassed by his compliment, but she found herself smiling a little more instead.

"Thank you, Detective Chastity. You are dressed rather well yourself"

He leaned back in his seat

"Feel better?"

She nodded her head a few times and opened the menu to choose her dinner as he did. Volf whispered a few quiet words in his head. Quiet compliments on the dress and that they, both Volf and Yamato, were trying to make the evening run smoothly. Sebastian whispered back his thanks. This was difficult for him as well. It was his first date. He wanted things to go smoothly. This was important to him. It was a strange feeling, wanting things to go smoothly for this…whatever it was. Or was that Volf and Yamato were pulling their strings? He wasn't sure if he cared or not and pushed it aside, not wanting to overanalyze it.

When their drinks arrived, Sebastian made a small toast, praying for a good evening with her. Naoto was happy to raise her glass for the same reason. She wasn't one to drink. She never really had been. But this situation called for all the liquid courage she could muster, knowing full well he would ask her to dance sometime in the evening of which she still had no knowledge of how she was going to do it.

She had looked up several different kinds of dances her laptop and tried the steps herself with some light coaching from Yamato, but she knew it was going to be hard to keep up with him. One doesn't offer to dance unless they know how to dance. That scared her the most and she hoped he didn't expect much. When she realized that they would be dancing in front of these strangers who would be watching them, she took another sip of her awful awful drink.

They had ordered dinner and eaten it over small talk. Talk about the case, future plans and methods on tracking down their murderer, and how to build up a case against them when they found him. Small talk on the case had eventually led to small talk about the previous case Naoto had been on and that in turn had lead them back to her half school year with the investigation team.

"…And in turn, when my shadow told me of the experiment it planned to perform, you can understand why I was torn about it"

"Because you weren't sure if you wanted it or not now that the chance was available"

"Correct, Sebastian. It is true that at the time I wanted nothing more than to be a man. If I had known then what I know now, I suppose I would have fought back much more than I did."

Sebastian filled her wine glass up along with his, getting a little overzealous with the amount he poured in his own.

"Why did you want to be a man anyway? If you don't mind me asking"

She shook her head as she raised her glass to her lips

"The profession is designed for men. Not women. Not a little girl especially. No one would dare to take me seriously. No one did. I always had the notion in my head of a man being the only detective there could be. From the numerous books I read when I was younger, each detective, each main character in the stories was always a man. Smooth talking, charismatic, strong, brave. I wanted to be that man."

"You designed yourself after a fantasy then?"

"And not just one fantasy, but all the positive traits of these heroes trying to solve a case"

"Did you have any friends when you were younger? Someone to talk to?"

"I had my grandfather. I had my books. I had people that talked to me. But there are very few I count as 'friend'. What about you Sebastian? Did you have any friends growing up?"

He leaned back in his seat as the waitress came to gather their plates, swirling his wine in his glass before taking a drink

"I had Volf."

"Is he all there was?"

"I didn't really have any friends. I had associates. The only friend I would really say I have is another of the persona users in our organization. Riley. Irish fellow. Almost thirty six. Dragon persona named Zaria. A lovely lady"

"And Riley has been your friend for how long?"

"Maybe a year…"

"I see. So you don't have many friends then…"

"I have Volf. If Volf being an extension of me is true, then I suppose it is fair to say that I am my only friend. But I am a very good friend to have"

"What about Teddie? You told him you two were friends now"

"Then he will be heartbroken to hear that friendship doesn't work that way"

There was a tapping sound at the microphone on stage as the band came back from their break and began to pick up their instruments. The guitarist plucked a few chords and the drummer ran his sticks along his drums as they prepared for their next song. Sebastian turned only slightly from his seat to watch, waiting for their song to start. Sebastian smiled as the first few notes were struck. Under my skin. He turned his attention back to Naoto whose smile disappeared.

He stood from his seat and walked around the table, offering his hand to her.

"Shirogane, I do believe it is time to face the music…"

She felt herself suck her lower lips between her teeth and bite down on it, looking at his hand. She felt that scratch in the back of her head again.

"I'll be right here to help Sweetie. Take his hand! Get up there. Why did you spend three hours practicing if you aren't going to use it?"

Naoto cleared her throat and took another drink from her glass before taking his hand, following him onto the dance floor. His hands were soft…why were they going to the middle? Everyone would see in the middle. She looked around in a slight panic to see several couples were already making their way onto the floor. At least they wouldn't be the center of attention.

Sebastian took her right hand in his left and slid his right hand around to the small of her back and pulled her against him. She felt herself instinctively pull away but he held her firmly where she was, the hand on the small of her back keeping her against him.

"You see, when leading in dancing, when your hand is in this position, it is designed to keep your partner in your control when you move. At the same time, it prevents them from bumping into anyone or anything else with a small pull. Take a step back on your right foot"

"Sebastian, I don't think I can-"

"Take the step"

Naoto took a small step back on her right foot which was met with a step forward from his left.

"That's one. Now take a step to the side on your left"

She did as he instructed, looking down at her feet to watch them move.

"That's two. Keep your eyes up. Your legs aren't going anywhere. Step forward on your left"

She felt herself smile a bit, keeping her eyes down to watch him take a step back with her step forward

"Three. And now back where we started…"

She took a step to the right which he followed to return to their original position.

"And four. And that's it"

"Those are the steps?"

"Dancing is incredibly simple pending the dance. But for beginners, a waltz is just perfect"

He pulled her a little tighter against his body and she placed her free hand on his shoulder, perhaps gripping it a little more tightly than she needed. She could feel her heart beating in her ears and in her chest. Physical contact was something she had been avoid of for too long. He started on one again.

No. That wasn't her heart. It was his. She could feel his heartbeat in her chest against her. He was nervous as well it seemed. His palms seemed a little sweaty but she kept her grip, looking up to him and away from her feet. He smiled at her as they began to dance, letting him keep his grip as he carried and turned her slowly around the dance floor in their waltz.

"You're a good dancer, Sebastian."

"You are a fast learner, Shirogane"

She smiled back and watched as he looked over her shoulder. She remembered when dancing partners were supposed to look over each other's shoulders. She turned and looked over his. The purpose was to ensure that neither of them bumped into anyone while they were dancing. When a step was too big or too small and collision was on its way, Sebastian would pull her away from the collision with his hand on the small of her back and she would pull him back by his shoulder, forcing them both to take a smaller step.

Before she knew it, they were waltzing around the dance floor as they band played one song after another. She was surprised to find herself having a good time. She couldn't help herself from smiling. He enjoyed her little smile.

"I have never danced with anyone before, Sebastian. Who taught you?"

"Volf of course"

"Did he teach you everything you know?"

"Most of what I know. Other things I memorized on my own. But Volf for the most part taught me. And…spin"

He let go of the small of her back and raised her arm up, crossing it over her chest which forced her to spin before he pulled her back into his embrace. She was a little stunned that she had pulled it off so easily.

"If you listen to the advice your persona offers, they can teach you things. With a persona, you don't have only one brain inside your head.

He gave her another spin, this time stepping behind her mid spin and taking his place behind her at the end of it. He slid one arm under her breasts to take her hand and the other along her collar to take the other. She had seen this position in one of the videos she had watched. They continued their waltz as he spoke.

"If you talk with your persona, you learn so much from one another. After all, who knows you better than you?"?

He gave her another spin and pulled her against him to have them face each other. Her hand slid up the breast of his jacket and onto his shoulder, her thumb resting against his neck. Their dancing slowed with the next song and he felt himself smiling to it. Blue velvet. Perfect timing. He had been expecting this song to show up eventually.

He pulled her against him a little tighter, a small growl escaping his lips which caused her to blush and his breathing to quicken as they danced slowly from side to side. Her thumb ran along the side of his neck a few times before sliding up his shoulder and she pressed her palm against the side of his neck, her fingers curling around to the back of it. His raised hand let hers go and slid down the side of her dress, hooking itself into the hand already along the small of her back. She held her hands around his neck, swaying from side to side with him as the singer began.

"She wore blue velvet…"

She smiled up to him as he began to sing as well. He had a nice singing voice.

"Bluer than velvet was the night…"

The dance was slow and careful between the two of them. Sebastian could imagine his Volf dancing with Yamato in the space between their thoughts where the two personas would speak to one another. His large arms and thick claws holding the soldier's leather gloves as they danced. Volf would no doubt be hunched over to let the persona wrap her slender arms around his thick neck as they did the two step. It was an amusing thought.

Her mind was a mess. Was she falling for this man? She was unsure. It could possibly just have been her persona reaching out to Volf through Sebastian and her. But, was it really such a terrible concept in the end? She had been without companionship for so long. Was she growing attached to him, or was it just that she was starved for contact? It was hard to decide what she really felt. But when he looked at her with his smile, she returned one just as pleased with a bit of a smirk. The song was almost over.

"And I still can see blue velvet through my tears…"

He stayed with her on the dance floor as the song ended and the couples began to disperse. He smiled down at her, keeping her body pressed against his. She smiled back only momentarily. She licked her lips and pulled him down slowly to her. He heard the growl in his head as he leaned down, his hands traveling from the small of her back to up along her shoulder blades. With eyes closed as they approached one another, just at their most beautiful moment, they both felt themselves stop. She could feel his breath against her lips and he could hear her breathing quiver and her hands tighten around his neck and slip upwards into his hair, holding him. Slowly she leaned her head back and his hands slipped from her shoulders and away from her body while her hands slid from his neck and came down to her sides. There was a brief moment of panic between the two of them as they stood there looking at one another. They couldn't.

"Thank you for the dance, Shirogane"

Naoto bowed her head slightly as he did.

"Thank you for the opportunity, Detective Chastity."

The drive home had been an unpleasant one. They spoke not a word to one another during the trip. Volf, he could tell, was furious inside his head, growling, snapping his jaws, cursing, insulting. Sebastian chose to ignore the hurtful things he decided to spout, focusing on his driving. He wondered what kind of conversation Naoto was having inside her own head with Yamato. Occasionally he would glance over to her as he drove to see if she had moved, but she remained statuesque as she stared out the window, her elbow resting on the windowsill and the back of her palm pressed to her mouth as she stared out into the nothingness. She was thinking. He knew that face. Rather than try to dampen the heavy mood, he just kept quiet.

When Sebastian drove up to the Naoto's door, it took a moment for her to return back to the world from her mind and realize she was in front of her door. She turned to look at him for only a moment as she unclipped her seatbelt. Another moment of awkward heaviness fell on them. He tried to break it. He wanted to apologize for the way the rather lovely evening had turned out and tried to push a 'sorry' from his mouth, but instead felt it get caught in his throat and refuse to leave. She tried to do the same to no avail. He tried harder.

"Thank you…for the lovely evening, miss Shirogane"

She chewed her tongue for a moment before nodding her head.

"Thank you for dinner, mister Chastity…"

She tried to push something else from her throat but it refused to come to the surface. So instead she just turned to open the door and stepped out after a quick glance back to him. He waited in his seat as she slowly made her way up to her door and stepped inside, closing the door slowly behind her.

"You foolish boy"

"Shut up, Volf"

"You ruined a perfectly good thing"

"Not tonight, Volf!"

Sebastian turned the rear view mirror towards him, looking through himself into Volf's eyes

"I swear if you speak another word to me tonight I will make things very hard for you. If I hear you growl or snap or whimper or even clear your throat for the rest of the night, I will never speak to her again. Do you understand? I will actively go out of my way to ruin this. Do I make myself clear?"

The voice went quiet for a moment longer than Sebastian was comfortable with

"…I understand…"

Sebastian turned the mirror back and leaned forward in his seat, running his hands along his face. What a nightmare. What a disaster. What a foolish endeavor. He hadn't ruined anything. He had done exactly what he felt needed to be done. He looked at himself in the mirror again and felt his jaw clench in anger as he threw the car back into drive as he pulled away from the door.

"Idiot"

Sebastian got as far as the gate before his phone vibrated against his leg and he slowed the car down. Was it even worth looking at? What did his boss have to say? Or his former employer? Or his chief. Was there anything those people had to say that was of any relevance to him at this moment? He pulled his phone from his pocket.

**Naoto S.**

'Drink? Y/N'

He stared at the message as he sucked on his teeth and drummed his fingertips on his gearshift. Finally he put his car in reverse and back up along the small strip to her front door. He would have loved a drink.

'Y'


	20. Chapter 20

The interior of the house had been just as lavish as he had expected it to be. It **was** the Shirogane estate after all. It was almost as though there wasn't a section of the building that didn't have a bookshelf in it. Paintings on the walls, expensive carpeting. He had money, but not wealth. Money could be lost on a bad weekend. He was almost certain that Naoto would have to go out of the way to throw away the family fortune. If there was one.

Naoto had led him into the kitchen on the first floor near the back of the building. Sebastian felt like such a nuisance when his shoes clacked against the hard wood of the kitchen. Having taken her boots off at the door, she made no noise as she led him through the house barefoot. She had said it didn't matter if he kept his shoes on and he preferred to keep them on. They had only touched the dance floor and maybe 12 steps of concrete outside anyway so he had preferred to keep them on. But now with attention being drawn to the clacking, he was regretting his decision.

Naoto got him seated at the kitchen table and had gone into the kitchen to get a bottle from under the countertop. He assumed it was where they kept the alcohol in the house. She returned with the bottle and two wine glasses from one of the cupboards and poured them both a drink. He was a little surprised that even with the flash of the night gone from their dance and their awkward moment together, he still found her quite beautiful in her dress.

But what about without the dress? That could prove a problem in the case. He didn't have a set of rules or norms he followed, but he knew that it was going to pose a problem.

Naoto poured them both a glass of the amber liquid and he lifted the glass to his nose, sniffing at it. white wine. A dirty white. A dirty white wine meant one of two things: either that it was a new bottle and the label had prepared it badly, or that it was an old bottle which time and light had caused its color deterioration. He clinked his glass against hers and took a sip. Old. He preferred that to a poorly prepared bottle. But he was certain that she would never have given him a poorly prepared beverage.

She was precise and always thought ahead. She was considerate and took time in the planning of her endeavors. She was good, but not good enough to take something of this quality out for the two of them knowing that they would eventually be in this situation. He glanced at the bottle which was half empty. She had been holding onto this for some time. A special occasion. And yet she brought it out now for the two of them to casually drink. He smiled as he understood. She had been desperate in her offer and it was all she had. She wasn't a drinker like he was.

"Who were you saving the bottle for?"

By this point, Naoto wasn't at all surprised he would be able to figure these things out. She put a small fake smirk on her face.

"For when Souji comes back"

"And in panic you brought it out for us?"

She nodded her head slightly having still not taken a sip of her drink. Was she saving it?

"Still love him, don't you?"

She nodded her head, swirling her glass around in her hands watching as the liquid moved about.

"I believe there is always going to be a part of me that loves him."

Sebastian nodded slowly as he looked down into his glass and swirled it a few times. It was hard for Naoto to talk about these things it seemed. He wasn't going to push any buttons that didn't need to be pushed. There was still bruising on his cheek from where she had left a reminder not to push her too far that stung now when he thought of it.

Volf growled in his head quietly and he whispered a quick silencer, reminding him that he would still abandon Volfs wants if he interrupted again. This wasn't about him. It was about Naoto and him. On a side form, yes, it was about Volf and Yamato. However, it wasn't just about them. Sebastian took another small sip from his glass and stood up, straightening his jacket and running his hands along the sides of his hair.

"I better get going."

He needed to leave. There was nothing for him here. Then he remembered the case. If there was going to be another body tomorrow, then he would need to get some rest. No telling what was waiting for them tomorrow afternoon. Sebastian bowed his head slightly.

"Thank you for the wonderful evening, Naoto. I had a lot of fun"

Naoto stood with him, bowing her head in return.

"I had a lovely evening, Sebastian. Thank you for convincing me to go through with it"

Volf may not have spoken, but sebastian felt his influence as he tried to move past Naoto for the door of the kitchen. He could feel Volf shifting around inside of him and he held Sebastian back from moving. Whatever heat Volf had inside his body from the evening began to enclose around Sebastian's chest as he turned to Naoto and his shaking hands slid around her waist and pulled her close to him.

Naoto felt the voice inside her head ease her when her face lit up at the touch and her hands drew up onto Sebastian's shoulders, her fingernails running along the material of his jacket.

"Don't be shy. Be gentle…"

Naoto felt her tongue lick along her lips as she pulled him down to her and Sebastian pulled her against him, kissing her softly and letting out a small growl into her lips as her hands and arms curled around his neck.

It was a strange feeling. The heat of the moment causing his heart to race and he began to feel light headed, forcing him to use what strength he could muster to keep himself on his feet and not fall over. Naoto inhaled deeply from her nose, taking in his scent which caused her to falter only to be caught and kept up by the strong arms that wrapped around her body when she pressed against him. The smell of his aftershave and the softness of his lips, the strength he kept her up with. She drank it all in as she leaned in, kissing him harder. She could feel his heart beating through his jacket. It was a lovely song. A strong song.

It was quiet in that house, made silent only more from the moment they shared as both they and their personas indulged in one another. Even the loud ticking of the large grandfather clock in the far hallway was drowned out from the beating of their hearts in their ears and the sounds of their lips meeting one another again and again with their long kisses. It was a beautiful moment together.

Sebastian felt the warmth in his chest become hot, and then hot to painful as he broke their kiss and had to tear his arms from her. The removal of his arms caused Naoto to stumble forward but she caught herself and she stood up properly, her arms drawn up to her chest. Sebastian took a few steps back and leaned against the back countertop, one of his hands drawn tightly to his chest, clutching his white dress shirt. He took small panic breaths as he looked at her with anger. She felt scared for just a moment until she took a good look into his eyes. The anger wasn't directed at her.

"Sebastian?"

He said nothing as he tried to regain his breath and on shaking legs he forced himself to stand up straight. The words that came from his lips stung him deep, and not just himself but Volf as well. They hurt him more than they would ever hurt Naoto.

"I can't"

He rubbed at the pain in his chest as he began to take longer breaths, the fire inside of him being smothered by his anger. He remained calm when he spoke though. At this crucial moment, it was important he kept himself calm.

"I can't do this with you, Naoto."

Naoto felt her lower lip being bitten between her teeth and the hands she pressed against her began to dig into her skin.

"Is there something wrong with me?"

Sebastian was quiet for a moment as he tried to breathe before nodding his head.

"There is. But there's also something wrong with me. I can't fathom the concept of us as we are"

He took a deep breath and sighed as he stood up straight, his breathing returning to normal.

"You don't love me, Naoto…or maybe you do. But do you even know? Do you know that you want and love me? Or do you only know that your soldier wants and loves Volf?"

There was a moment of quiet between them. Naoto didn't speak, unsure of what she could say. She was unsure of the answer she could give that would fix this. She was unsure if there was even an answer she could give to convince herself.

"I want to, Naoto. I really do. I have never…felt…something like this before. It's scary to me. But if I go down that road, I may not win in the end."

"What are you referring to by 'win'"?

Sebastian needed to tread carefully on this uneven ground. He was alone in this.

"I cannot allow myself to become emotionally involved with someone whose heart doesn't belong to me. And it doesn't. Your heart doesn't belong to me. It belongs to him."

Naoto felt a sting in her eyes. Anger. But she was able to separate herself from the situation. Was she angry at him for saying it, or angry at herself for knowing it was true?

Sebastian approached her, so close he could have kissed her again, but he fought back against the urge and against Volf as he spoke.

"I want to"

His voice was just a whisper as he spoke, taking a few steps back. If he got too close, he would lose the fight against himself.

"I really do. But I won't."

Naoto couldn't tell who she was angry at as the sting in her eyes caused the tears to finally drop down her cheeks. Sebastian? Herself? Souji? Two of them? All three? Her fingers hurt as she dug them into her skin, afraid she was going to pierce it with her nails.

"I can't, Naoto."

Sebastian moved from her towards the door to the kitchen, cursing how loud his shoes were on the wood again. He stopped in the doorway of the kitchen. He wanted to look back at her, but he knew if he saw her standing there alone and miserable in that beautiful blue dress of hers, he would never get out.

"If…soon…you decide to give your heart to me; if, before this case is over and I go back home; if, before it's too late, you decide by yourself where your heart lies; and **if** it's with me, then I will be here. Until then, I can't make the mistake you, Volf, and Yamato want me to make."

Naoto sat down in her chair as she heard his loud footsteps get further and further away, pause at the front door, then grow silent as he got into his car and drove off, leaving her alone. She wanted to have some sort of conversation with Yamato. Or talk to someone. But her persona had grown quiet in her head and she was now alone as she sat at the kitchen table and began to cry in frustration, anger, and disappointment.

Sebastian threw his keys onto the countertop once he walked through the door and took his boots off. He moved into the kitchen and took his bottle from the fridge. He pulled the cork out with his teeth and spat it into the sink. Glass? No. He lifted the bottle to his lips, taking several large gulps as he walked into the living room and sat down on the couch.

"Are you there, Volf

There was a moment of silence that Sebastian didn't like.

"Volf?"

"…I am"

"Penny for your thoughts?"

The silence dragged on inside his head before the beast spoke, deciding that since Sebastian wanted to hear that he wouldn't be punished as Sebastian had said he would.

"I would like to apologize for earlier, Sebastian"

Sebastian drew the bottle up to his lips and took a swig with a small smirk.

"Oh?"

"I should have never influenced you and I apologize. You are right. It was unfair for us to push you like that."

Sebastian set his bottle down on the table.

"Volf, I understand why you want us to become involved. I really do. She is a beautiful woman. Both Naoto and Yamato. But they don't belong to us. They belong to him. I can't afford to be emotionally involved with someone who may just leave us should they ever come back. What if was to come back tomorrow morning and show up at Naoto's door? Suppose we would have ended up in bed together and Souji showed up tomorrow morning at her doorstep. Do you really think they would have chosen us?"

"…no…"

"Wolves are loyal beasts, Volf. We are loyal to the core. It's in our nature. If Souji was to show up and Naoto was to, and would, run headlong into his arms to stay there, where does that leave us? That leaves us following her. The women we love always just out of reach. So close they might as well be a million miles away."

Sebastian felt Volf's influence as he reached for the bottle and drew it to his lips. Sebastian relaxed and let Volf's arm raise the bottle.

"Cheers"

"Cheers, Volf"

He took another swig of the bottle and set the empty container back onto the table.

"I was hasty, Sebastian. It won't happen again."

"Thank you, Volf. I can't afford to have us both compromised."

"I understand, Sebastian. We have a body showing up on the streets in less than twelve hours. What's our next move?"

"My next move is to try to have a shower without breaking down inside and realizing I just turned down a beautiful girl. Not the simplest of tasks"

Naoto rested her head against the cool tile of the shower. She opened her mouth as the hot water ran through her hair and down her face and along her back and legs. She raised her arms up and pressed them against the wall, letting more of the cool tiles touch her as she tried to relax and not let the swell of anger rise up inside of her. She didn't want to throw a tantrum. She was better than that now.

Naoto slowly pushed herself off the wall and gave herself a quick rinse before stepping out from the shower and onto one of her towels. She grabbed a second off a hook on the wall and began to dry herself off.

"What do I feel, Yamato?"

"Conflicted"

Naoto sighed and wiped the fogged up mirror of the bathroom to look at herself. She looked exhausted. Crying always made her so tired. Her eyes were red from rubbing them and she turned her head from side to side to look at either angle of her face. She was exhausted and let out a yawn as she walked from the bathroom, down the hall, and into her messy bedroom.

She kicked cloths and books aside as she made her way in and sat down on the end of her bed, pushing a small stack of cloths over that were in her way as she dried her hair and along her neck and shoulders. What a day.

"Don't feel so disgruntled, sweety. I'm sure everything will be ok."

Naoto stood from her bed to dry off her stomach and back as she worked her way down her body.

"Yamato, I know you mean well, but please shut up…"

The silence she yearned for swept through her head as her persona grew quiet. She finished drying her legs and threw her towel onto the floor as she climbed into bed. She took a quick look around her room. If things had gotten out of hand between her and Sebastian, she couldn't have imagined the embarrassment of the state of her room with her cloths littered about on the floor and her bed with her detective novels, research papers, and old case files. She would have died from embarrassment. She told herself what she told herself every night: I'll clean it tomorrow.

As she pulled the covers over her head and slinked down into her covers, she drew her legs up to her chest and pulled some of the blanket between her knees to separate them. It had been a lovely night. It was a pity she had to spend it alone.

As sleep began to take her, Naoto felt a warm strong arm wrap around her stomach. She slowly drew her legs down as the body behind her pressed into her back, down along her backside and her strong legs. The fingers of the arm gently danced along her skin, tracing small designs and fingernails caressing her flesh. She felt a small smile run along her lips as the smell of that shampoo and deodorant ran through her nose and she turned around, burying her face into the chest of the being that held her.

His skin was soft and smooth, strong muscle that she loved to rest her head against. The arm now pressed against the small of her back drew her in closer as soft lips pressed against her forehead and caused her to blush. How was it he always did this to her? What was it about him that made her act all…girly? Her hands drew up along his strong legs and the curvature of his hips, tracing along the muscles of his strong abs from the rigorous workouts during his basketball games and the conditioning from his sword training and battles. Their legs intertwined and wrapped around one another. She wasn't afraid. Wasn't ashamed. Wasn't embarrassed.

She leaned her head up to look into his eyes as one of her hands left his strong chest and reached up to scoop his cheek and kiss him. Kiss those lips she craved and made her feel drunk off of his very being. But when she opened her eyes there was nothing to kiss. No lips. There were no lips to kiss. There were no eyes to sink into. No legs to intertwine with, no hips to grasp, no hands to hold, no stomach to feel the muscles of. She was alone in the blackness with only her thoughts to keep her company.

As reality sunk in and her past left a phantom sting inside her, she drew her head back under the covers and closed her eyes once more. It was hard not to cry as she brought her knees back up to her chest. All she wanted to do was sleep and get on with her next day. She just wanted to get on with it.

Sebastian slowly rolled over in his bed away from the noise of the vibrations on the floor beside his futon. He picked up his pillow and pulled it over his head. Wait. Had he actually managed to fall asleep? He pulled the pillow off his head and reached around his body trying to find his cellphone. He slapped his hand around on the carpet in vain until his fingers connected with the screen of his phone and he pulled it from its charger, drawing it under the covers to look at the screen, regretting it when the bright light of the screen turned on and temporarily blinded him.

"Moron"

Sebastian leaned up from bed and ran his other hand along his face to try and wipe away the sleep. It was still dark outside. He turned on the screen of his phone again to check the time before the message. 8:11. It was too early. But he pulled the blankets from his body none the less, used to not getting sleep as it was. He was surprised Volf had let him sleep as long as he had. Sebastian checked the message.

**Blocked Number**

Showtime, Mr. Chastity.

Sebastian sighed and pulled himself up from his bed letting the blanket fall from his body as he started his day and got dressed in his last clean suit. He would need to find a dry cleaner before he could change again. He slid his phone into the breast pocket of his jacket and made his way into the kitchen to fix him and Volf breakfast. He needed to go shopping again. He was running out of milk. Sebastian didn't know how long the call was going to be until. The body was now somewhere in Inaba just dangling, waiting for someone to come across it. He wasn't sure if those working today would find it or someone out for a jog or walk would find it. Maybe some kids. He didn't know.

Sebastian cracked two eggs inside a bowl and began to scramble them with a fork, adding pepper, salt, and the last splash of milk he had as he mixed his breakfast. His arms felt tense as he cooked and he noticed his breathing was a little erratic. He shook it off as he poured the mixture into a pan he had placed on the stove. He waited a moment before grabbing a spatula and slowly beginning to push the eggs from the pan as he made his breakfast. Scrambled eggs might not have been the best meal for the morning, but it was quick. He wasn't sure how long he would have until the call would come and he needed to be ready when it did. It was his….his…duty…

He shook his head again and tried to relax his tightening jaw. The spatula wasn't working that well. It was old and the material was cracked. A small piece broke off of it, mixing in with his egg. Sebastian felt himself internally slip. He wanted to break something. He wanted to break all of it…

He removed the pan from the burner and moved into the family room to grab the bottle he had left on the table the night before. Making his way back into the kitchen, he positioned himself over the sink and smashed the thick green glass bottle over the edge of it. Several pieces flew in all directions, but most of it ended up in the sink.

"Fuck off!"

If he was in his own home he would have broken something a little more expensive and fragile. Something that would have justified his anger. But here in a stranger's house, nothing belonged to him. He had to behave himself. After a few quick breaths he leaned back from the sink and dropped the neck of the bottle into it. He braced his back against the counter and slid down it, sitting on the floor and cupping his head in his hands as he breathed, trying to relax.

"What's wrong, Sebastian?"

"I don't know what the fuck I'm doing, Volf. That's the problem. I don't know who he is, I don't know where he lives, I don't know what he's doing this for, and I don't know what I'm going to do with Shirogane….Fuck! And now, someone else has died. And people are going to continue to die as long as he keeps fucking with me. There is no trace to follow. I already know that no one at Reign-beaux is going to find anything. It's going to lead nowhere. No-where. I…I don't know if I can do this…"

Sebastian leaned his head back against the wood of the cupboard and closed his eyes tightly, running his hands through his hair. He was a little surprised to feel the sting of tears in his eyes. It had been a long time since he had let his defenses down long enough to be hurt.

"I'm emotionally compromised…"

"One step at a time, Sebastian. We have been in this situation before. We always find a way out of it. Stay strong"

Sebastian smiled with a quiet sob.

"Stop acting like a child who had their favorite toy taken away"

Before Sebastian could make a snappy remark, his phone rang. He pulled it from his pocket and brought it up to his ear. He tried to speak but choked on his own sob and pulled the phone away from his face to quietly let it out. He brought it back.

"Chastity here"

"…."

"Ok. Ok. I'll be right there"

"…"

"I will. Thank you, sir"

Sebastian put his phone back into his breast pocket and pulled himself to his feet

"That's my boy. Up on your feet."

Sebastian turned off the burner for the stove and walked into the bathroom, straightening his hair and tie and pulling down on his suit. He dried his eyes and took several breaths, relaxing inside himself and he put on his calm demeanor as he stared at himself. Or Volf.

"There we go. Now, go pick up your partner and find him and stop him. In a few months this is all going to seem like a bad dream"

Sebastian made sure there was no glint to show he had been crying.

"Fuck this nightmare."

Naoto leaned up from bed at the sound of the doorbell. In a panic, she pulled the blankets back from her body and rushed to the window to see who it was. From her second floor bedroom she could see the drive way. She knew that car parked outside. Sebastian. She wasn't sure how to approach this, but she threw the blanket from her bed over her body as she walked down the stairs to the door. What did he want this early?

Her head ached from the night before, still a little hung over. When she answered the door, the light from outside caused her to pull some of the blanket over her eyes. It was raining. He stood there in his nice suit, shoulders catching small glints of light from where the rain had met his jacket. He bowed his head slightly to her.

"Good morning, Shirogane."

"Detective…"

"This isn't a house call. They found another body. This one sounded a little urgent. Get dressed. Wear your suit. I'll see you in the car."

Naoto nodded her head a few times.

"Ok. I'll see you in a few minutes then"

Sebastian took a moment to look her up and down before heading back to the car. Naoto watched him give a small jog to the driver's side before climbing in. Only with the cold breeze did she realize part of her side was exposed and she covered up quickly. Maybe that's all he had needed. She closed the door and hurried back up to her room. Wonderful evening, bad night, bad morning. How could things get worse?

When Naoto eventually made her way downstairs, she adjusted her bow in the mirror and made her way outside to the car, umbrella open to prevent rain from landing on her jacket. Sebastian had his eyes closed with his head against the headrest. He looked exhausted. Whatever sleep he got last night wasn't good enough. Her hangover was aching behind her right eye. She knocked on the glass of the window and without opening his eyes he unlocked the doors for her to climb in. She turned in her seat to put her umbrella on the floor of the back seat and upon turning back around was greeted with a cup of coffee and one of those sandwiches she had brought him on their first morning. Grease. Grease made everything better. She felt relief sweep through her body as she took them from him. He had read her mind.

"Oh god I love you…"

She took the sandwich from him and unwrapped it quickly, biting into it with a quiet moan and flopping back into her seat as she ate. She closed her eyes savoring the junk she was consuming.

"Hung over, Shirogane?"

Naoto nodded quietly with acknowledgement.

"Well it's a good thing it's a cloudy day, I suppose. I can't imagine what the state of our crime scene is going to look like."

"I would hope we will be able to get some shelter for our body. I have never handled a body in the rain before"

"It's not so bad once you get over the rain. I need to have my jackets dry cleaned. I hope I can keep this one dry enough to wear a few more times"

"I know somewhere we can get them cleaned. We can go when we're done with the body. We cannot proceed with the investigation until after the coroner gets a look at it. We know how it got there, but there needs to be an official record"

"This is turning out to be a circus I don't want a part of"

Naoto smiled as she ate, her eyes closed.

"I am still awake, Sebastian. I am just going to close my eyes. I am not used to getting as little sleep as you…"

She was quiet for a moment.

"I'm sorry about last night, Sebastian."

"No you aren't. The last thing you are is sorry. But a sorry is irrelevant at this point in time. One day at a time. Alright?"

Naoto chewed the inside of her lip.

"Ok"

She took another bite of her sandwich.

At the flash of lights against the walls of the neighboring buildings, Sebastian slowed down the vehicle and parked it behind several other police cars. He nudged Naoto gently who stirred and opened her eyes slowly. She had fallen asleep after all. Naoto leaned up abruptly but Sebastian pushed her back down onto her seat with his arm.

"Wait for my window to get obscured by the rain then fix your hair"

Naoto relaxed a bit and waited for the rain on his window to blur the outside world before taking her hat off and pulling her hair back in a ponytail and pulling it forward on top of her head, slipping her hat overtop of it. She looked at Sebastian for approval.

"Better?"

"Better"

Sebastian reached behind his seat top grab their umbrellas. They opened their doors and opened them, stepping out into the rain.

Several police officers tried to keep the few people with umbrellas from getting closer to the crime scene and keeping them back behind the tape. When the detectives approached, the people seemed to step aside from them to let them through. Sebastian stopped mid stride and took a closer look at the ground. Naoto turned to him.

"What do you see, Sebastian?"

Sebastian crouched down and dipped his fingers into the rain water as his feet, drawing them back with pink tips.

"Blood?"

He stood back up, Naoto approaching him.

"There hasn't been any blood in a case like this before, Sebastian. Not to my knowledge anyway."

Sebastian walked with her towards the group of gathered Police near the ambulance that was parked between two of the buildings. A young boy sat on the edge of the vehicle with a blanket around him. One of the police saw them and broke away from the group. He offered his hand to Naoto.

"Detective Shirogane, Detective…"

"Chastity. What do you have?"

The man shook Sebastian's hand firmly. Sebastian liked this man.

"The boy was playing with his friends before it started to rain. He was on his way home and found the body"

Naoto looked over the man's shoulder at the boy.

"Get a statement from him and send him home."

"We can't keep him here like this on such a miserable day. Make sure one of the other officers drives him home once you get the statement"

The officer nodded

"Yes sir"

He made his way back to the ambulance, another police officer from around the corner of the next building waved them over and they followed together. Sebastian looked over to Naoto with a small smile. She looked to him but felt her face warm up and snap forward again.

"What is it?"

"You look good in uniform"

She bit her lip between her teeth and folded the collar of her coat up to hide her face.

"Thank you…"

The man bowed his head to the two of them.

"Detectives, you are going to want to see this…"

Sebastian spat onto the ground, needing to get the taste of venom out of it as the followed the man around the corner to the scene. A man dangled from the light post in front of them by his ankle. The man's arms hung down and his jacket was folded back over his body to expose his back. Something was connected to his ankle to the light post to allow him to hang like that. His free leg was casted off to the side, bent. He had poor flexibility.

Sebastian lifted his umbrella a little higher as they approached the body.

"No blood before, hu?"

"Never…"

Sebastian watched where he walked, avoiding the stream of red that ran with the rain into the storm drain as he approached the body. The man's suit had large patched of red along the fabric in long strips. The lines covered his arms and legs and torso as though a razor had been dragged around his body every few inches. Blood still dripped from the man's fingertips and down along his face and neck, dripping off his hair in the rain.

Sebastian couldn't understand why. Why like this? Naoto felt her legs get weak as she recognized the man hanging from the light and reached out for Sebastian who caught her and braced her up for her to get her strength in her legs back.

"Son of a bitch…"

Sebastian had never heard her curse before. Naoto pulled herself from Sebastian and pulled her phone from her breast pocket, dialing someone. She pressed the phone to her ear, waiting as the phone began to ring. Sebastian listened to her conversation as he looked up at the body. Poor bastard…

"Dojima-san?"

"Shirogane? It's my day off. I'm trying to sleep. What do you want?"

"I'm very sorry to wake you up, Dojima-san, but there has been an incident in the case…"

Dojima leaned up in bed, moving his phone to his other ear as he propped his back up against the wall

"What is it then? Has there been another body?"

"There has…"

"And?"

"Before I tell you Dojima, I want you to promise me you won't do anything drastic. I need you to know that I will take care of this…"

"What happened…?"

"Promise me…"

"Tell me what happened and I'll think about it"

Naoto could taste the tension between them as she turned to look back at the body of the thin man hanging from the light post.

"It's Adachi…"


	21. Chapter 21

Sebastian was surprised that this late in December it was still raining. Undoubtedly soon it would start to snow in the coming days. What bothered him the most now was that it was raining harder than it was when he had picked up Naoto earlier. It was a cold rain. Terribly cold. A frozen rain cold.

He tilted the umbrella further back as he looked up at the face of the man hanging from the street light. The blood was beginning to slow as the rain lapped against his open wounds and his clothing. Naoto closed her cellphone with a sigh and walked back beside him, observing with him.

"Who is he?"

"Tohru Adachi. The one who was responsible for the deaths of two in our case two years ago"

"So he's your boy. What happened to him after the case was over?"

"After the events of the case he was tried for murder. There wasn't enough evidence to convict him as we would have liked, but we were able to gather enough evidence to find him guilty on both accounts. He confessed to both the murders before a trial even took place. He surprised us all."

"And then?"

"He was sent to prison"

Sebastian sighed and looked down, rubbing his eyes with his thumb and forefinger of his free hand. After several good nights of sleep with Naoto being near him to keep Volf quiet he had grown slightly more accustom to sleep. The lack thereof was bothering his head and eyes. Naoto yawned. Sebastian blinked a few times before looking back up to the body.

"I don't get it…"

"Sebastian?"

Sebastian looked down from the body and stared off into space as he tried to piece together the information.

"Every victim so far has been successful in their endeavors in life. They were successful people. Good jobs, great income, reputable. So…why kill six people of which all match the same profile…and of which we can connect toward each other in possible motive…and then kill a prisoner? What's to get out of it?"

"Perhaps someone paid them the fifty thousand dollars to kill him"

"But to what end? At least in the other six cases there was something to be gained. Higher status and authority. A brighter future. Company car, corner office with a pretty view, a raise…even a secretary. Why kill a prisoner?"

Sebastian looked back up to the body.

"No one pays fifty grand to kill a nobody hurting no one anymore. It doesn't add up. Was he rich?"

"Not to my knowledge he wasn't"

"Did…he have a job waiting for him when he got out of prison? I…I don't…"

Sebastian began to have a hard time talking as his jaw clenched up tightly and his lips pulled back with a growl. He ran his hand through his hair several times before grabbing a handful of it and pulling hard. Naoto looked to the other police officer with them.

"Would you please give us a moment?"

The officer nodded after a moment and walked from them heading back around the corner towards the other officers leaving the two of them alone. Naoto leaned down and set her umbrella on the ground, taking her place under Sebastian's.

Her hands reached up and cupped his cheeks, turning his head to look at her.

"Volf…calm yourself. The both of you need to calm yourselves. We will work this out…"

Sebastian's lips relaxed and he closed his eyes taking slow breaths as he tried to smother the fire inside him. Naoto was hesitant, but she ran her thumb along his cheek as she looked up to him and ran her hand through the side of his hair, fixing what he had messed up.

Sebastian opened his eyes finally and straightened himself. Noticing the rain on her shoulders, he moved his umbrella a little closer to her to cover her up. Naoto smiled a little.

"Better?"

Sebastian nodded and sighed. What a fucking day. Naoto picked up her umbrella again and turned to look at the body. What was keeping him up there?

Sebastian turned from her to look down the alley way.

"Alright. Get him down from there!"

As if on command, the line that was wrapped around Adachi's ankle snapped and the body fell to the ground. It landed on the back of its neck with a sickening thud of the breaking of bones. Sebastian snarled and spat on the ground. Naoto jumped back a bit at the sudden movement of the body falling. Sebastian sighed and walked up to the body.

"Never mind…"

He handed Naoto his umbrella and she took it from him, watching him and covering him with his umbrella as he leaned down and rolled the body over onto its back. He leaned over the body, both his hands coming to rest along Adachi's shoulders as Sebastian pulled himself over the body. Naoto finally got to see him in action in the field.

Sebastian leaned his head down to Adachi's and sniffed along his neck and shoulders. He reached back to Naoto who pressed her umbrella between her shoulder and neck as she reached into her belt pocket for a pair of gloves and handed them to Sebastian. After he put them on, he place his fingertips on Adachi's lower jaw and opened his mouth, sniffing inside.

He pulled back with a snarl and spat again. The smell reeked of shadows. He felt a growl from Volf escape his lips.

"It's our boy…"

Naoto felt her shoulders slump with a sigh.

"Why were these actions necessary to damage his body?"

Sebastian sniffed along his shoulders and opened the first few buttons of his shirt, sniffing at the upper section of his chest. It was sour. Just like the other victim. He died the same way. Sebastian opened his shirt a little more to one of the thin cuts that encircled his body. It was as though piano wire had been dragged across his skin and cut him open. This wasn't the cut of a blade. Whatever cut him was sharp and stayed that way.

Sebastian put his hands on Adachi's face to feel his muscles. They were relaxed. Unlike the rest of the victims whose muscles were tight from fear and panic, Adachi was calm. He had accepted death. Sebastian opened his mouth a little wider to look inside his mouth. Blood. Sebastian looked along Adachi's cheeks. All the blood on them had come from the rain. The blood in his mouth was dark and dry. It had come from inside him. Internal hemorrhaging? But…there was something else…

"Something is wrong with this picture…"

Naoto leaned down over the body close to Sebastian. He was right. Something was wrong. It wasn't something to see, but her Persona gave her the feeling that something was missing. She hadn't felt it before with the other bodies. Maybe because she didn't have a connection to her persona before. She could just…feel….it. Or rather the lack of it. The lack…

"He's empty inside?"

Sebastian saw Naoto struggling and took the umbrellas from her as she leaned down to the body, leaning her head near Adachi's chest. It was void inside. She could feel her Persona swimming around inside her head. It was a strange feeling. Is this what Sebastian felt when on a case? Naoto leaned up to look at him.

"His persona is gone…"

Sebastian nodded his head slowly. What a strange feeling. He could smell that there was something that used to be inside of Adachi. Something strong and wicked. Sebastian felt sorry for the man. Not because he was dead, but because he would never get the chance to fight again. Sebastian was surprised he was sour over this man's death. He would have wanted to fight something like whatever taint remained inside of Adachi. The remnants gave off a smell Volf and he rarely came across.

Sebastian let Naoto work, making notes as she did. Fingernails were clean, no bruising around the neck and wrists, no signs of struggle. Whatever had happened to this man, it had happened when he was in a state too weak or disoriented to do anything about it. The cuts along his skin though were the most intriguing thing. Perfect circles around his body. something had indeed bound him. Something thin and sharp. The cuts were perfect as though they were carved by scalpels.

Sebastian's attention was finally drawn to whatever it was that had kept the body up on the lamp post. According to Naoto and the unofficial report compiled by her and the investigation team two years ago, bodies were always strung up about electrical equipment when they were found. The wires would be tangled around someone or the body draped over it. How a person came to be like that wasn't worth going into or trying to understand. Sebastian knew that no matter how much time he spent trying to dissect the intricacies of the shadow world, at the end of the day, week, or year, he would have acquired nothing. But what had kept him up there?

Sebastian raised the former detective's leg up to examine the thin piece of silver thread that had been wrapped around his leg. It wasn't wire. It would have been a different color. Instead it was thin and silver like the threading of steel wool. He pressed it between his thumb and forefinger, running his digits across them. He pulled back sharply, dropping the threading.

Upon examination, he noticed that both his fingers had been cut by the material, whatever it was. He pulled the rubber glove on his hand off and put his fingers in his mouth, sucking in the taste of iron. Naoto noticed.

"What is it?"

"I don't know. Thread I think. But whatever it is it is incredibly sharp. He spat out the blood he drew from his fingers. He should have known better than to put it into his mouth but it was too late now. They would need to get it examined.

In conclusion: sharp threading around ankle, deduction leaning towards body being wrapped in threading causing lacerations which would put the body into a state of shock and paralyzation for fear of continued damage. Internal hemorrhaging of an unknown nature, acceptance of death, and…

"How did he get out?"

Naoto was surprised she hadn't said it first. What was Adachi doing out of prison? Why was he in his old cloths? Had no one bothered to check his cell? Attendance? He wasn't let out early as far as she was aware. He still had years of time left to serve.

"Sebastian, something is wrong with this. No one has reported an escaped convict. So that would mean that either no one knows he's gone, or-"

"-or someone knows and it keeping it quiet…"

"Which in turn means that regardless of the answer to the question, we will need to investigate the prison staff."

"Agreed. Would you mind making that arrangement with your chief? In the meantime, I think it's best if we take a step back and try to link our victims. If our boy isn't doing this for money, then I fear there is a vastly more dangerous game being played here…"

Naoto put on a small smile as she closed her eyes and ran the back of her gloved hand against her head, rubbing her temple.

"It would seem we are back to square one, doesn't it?"

Sebastian nodded as he looked down at the body.

"Poor bastard…"

Sebastian looked from the body at the sound of a car pulling up, a man and a woman climbing out of the vehicle. Naoto waved to them.

"It would seem that CSI is here to take over for us. We can get the autopsy report from them later. Is it to be assumed that you will ask for coroner to open up his skin again for the puncture marks?"

"It is. It's good when they leave a trademark. Everyone does it in these events. It's like a stamp of approval. In either case, I'm tired of being in the rain. Want to get breakfast? Pancakes always clear away a headache from being hung over."

Naoto hadn't realized her head hurt until now. She pulled her gloves off tossed them into one of the trash cans in the alley way as did Sebastian. It was freezing out and she kept her arms tightly to her body, her teeth chattering as they walked their way past the police officers and civilians. Winter was here and it was only going to get colder.

Thinking back on it, Naoto smiled as her mind drifted to what Inaba looked like under a blanket of snow. It was beautiful. Winter for her was a more pretty and enjoyable time of the year because of the cold. Souji and she often kept the closest to one another in the winter when they slept together. She used the excuse very rarely, but winter was the time for snuggling close to the one you loved. And as much as she would never admit it, the cold was a wonderful excuse to get close to one another. She wondered if Sebastian was a good snuggler.

"Naoto?"

Naoto looked up from the car seat, having zoned out in her own head. Sebastian turned on the heat.

"Excuse me?"

"Christmas is approaching as you know. Do you have any plans? I know that the people here in the east don't make as big a deal as we in the west do and I can't expect to put up a bunch of decorations in a strangers house, but I still consider it a time to spend time with those you…"

He paused trying to get the right word even though Naoto knew the words he was trying to avoid

"…take interest in. or rather…you have interest in…I'm bad at this"

Naoto smiled as she looked out the window.

"And?"

"Well, I hate spending Christmas alone with just Volf and myself. Would you and Yamato care to spend Christmas with a stranger? Or are you busy?"

She was a little surprised he had asked her so calmly as though he was asking for a glass of water. It seemed that there was very little he was ashamed of. Or was made embarrassed by. She on the other hand was embarrassed in her response.

"Under normal circumstances I would just be at home by myself or invite a few friends over who weren't busy. Chie and Yukiko usually are together for Christmas, Teddie and Yosuke, Kanji is always too embarrassed to ask me to do anything, and Rise is never in town anymore. So I usually spend Christmas alone…"

Sebastian nodded his head as he drove.

"If that is what you wish, Naoto."

"I-….I didn't say no…"

Sebastian smiled his little smile.

"I would like you to spend Christmas with me, Detective Shirogane."

"I…I would like that"

Sebastian smiled a little brighter. Volf whispered quietly.

"One step at a time, Sebastian…"

He had to tread carefully on this uneven ground. If he was to become involved with this woman, he would need to climb a mountain she had built for the man she loved to sit atop of.

After a quick stop at Junes for Sebastian to pick up some groceries, they eventually ended up back at his place. If anything, she considered this the new hang out spot for the investigation. Whatever information she needed on the case she was bound to find at his place of residence. The strings that were scattered along the walls connecting photo to photo and leading up the stairs into the center of his web were always changing colors as facts became theories and the other way around. He was very specific in his work and took it seriously. Even with his rather playful demeanor around her and her friends. When the chips were down, he was all business.

Naoto took her boots off and removed her jacket, slipping it overtop one of the chairs in the kitchen. She noticed the small shards of green on the floor. Glass?

"Sebastian? Why is there glass on your kitchen floor?"

Sebastian moved past her into the kitchen and placed his groceries on the counter.

"This morning I had a bit of a break down and felt like taking it out on an inanimate object with the result being the most damage I could possibly cause. Would you mind bringing the garbage can over here?"

Sebastian swept the glass up from the floor and counters and pulled the large pieces from the sink carefully not to cut himself to clear it out. In hindsight it had been a bad idea. But it had felt so good to break something without consequence.

"Would you mind doing me a favor, Shirogane?"

"Of course, Sebastian"

"Would you mind disassembling my web for me?"

Naoto walked slowly into the living room to look over his work, standing in the middle of the web and opening her arms like before, hooking her fingers around the threads within her reach. Why dismantle it? She could feel the answers come to her as she glanced about the pictures and work records of the victims he had pinned to the wall. She could feel Yamato whispering to her what she wanted to know as her eyes went one place and Yamato's went another. The experience was almost exhilarating as she gorged on the information that she was absorbing. It was incredible.

Her fingers left certain strings and hooked around others as she glanced from page to page. She would take several steps forward to skim over a document while she could feel Yamato inside her, leaning in the other direction to read another; two minds working together inside one head, processing much more information. How was it that this method was so effective? Her arms seemed to pull her in another direction as she leaned away from one document to another, feeding on the information like…like a wolf…

The notion caused her concentration to break for a moment and she shook her head and unhooked her fingers from the threads. She turned to look back at Sebastian who was leaning over the island that separated the kitchen from the living room, smiling at her.

"You've been at that for fifteen minutes now, Shirogane"

Naoto looked down at her watch. She had been. Only a few seconds ago she had looked at the case from his perspective. Had it really been fifteen minutes? She looked back to the wall at the document she was looking at on the woman from Brazil.

"Do you really think it is necessary to dismantle this, Sebastian?"

"None of the working records mean anything anymore. Twenty thousand dollars well wasted. There is something else that connects these people. I don't know what it is yet, but I'm sure I will….we…will figure it out"

"It does seem like an awful waste…"

Naoto began to unravel his web, stacking the documents on the coffee table in front of the couch. She put pictures on one side and documents on the other to help him when he would reorganize his web. She would need to get him a picture of Adachi for the new web he would be creating.

"What do you want me to do with the thread?

"Throw it away. I have lots more to work with. If not, Junes sells thread right?"

"I would assume as much"

Naoto made her way up the stairs, raveling the thread around her arm as she walked into his original web room and dismantled it. If she knew she would have been wondering freely through this house back when she first broke in, she wondered how silly she would have felt needing to break in.

She took one of the files off the wall with a picture of the first two victims' above it.

"I suppose every spider is capable of remaking its web…"

It took her fifteen minutes to gather up the threads of his web and the files he had pinned to the wall. She brought them downstairs and set the files onto the coffee table and threw the threads away while he finished making breakfast. When he called her name, she sat down at the table to her plate of pancakes. Mickey Mouse pancakes.

She smiled a little to him with his attempt at being cute. He set his own plate down with the syrup but did not join her while she ate. Instead he moved into the living room and began to reconstruct. Only this time instead of making another web, be pinned the pictures onto the wall in a circle. She was a little disappointed. She liked eating with him.

If he wasn't going to eat with her, she was going to eat with him. She picked up her plate and went into the living room, eating on the couch and coffee table. Sebastian paid her no mind as he looked over the photos.

"So…something is shared between all these people. These seven victims have something in common and I don't know what it is. But whatever it is, our boy is very interested in these people."

He took a step back from the web pointing to the pictures.

"Lawyer, doctor, surgeon, lawyer, business owner, son of a business owner… prisoner…"

Sebastian leaned closer to the piece of paper he had labeled 'Adachi'.

"Why are you so important to someone to break you out of prison, take you to the shadow world, then torture and murder you? Why would anyone take interest in you? You aren't worth anyone's time…"

Naoto leaned back against the couch.

"Perhaps it's not about money or position. With a break this drastic in his patterns, it's something we're not seeing."

"And it's right here staring me in the face…"

Sebastian leaned back from the images.

"What kind of man was Adachi?"

"Teddy best described him as a 'goofball.' He gave the impression he was lazy and always messed up at work. But that is not who he really was. He was cunning and sly. He was capable of telling you something to lead you in the wrong direction away from him as your culprit. He was dangerous and vicious even if his methods were clean. He had no remorse for his actions."

Sebastian reached into his pocket and punched in a few numbers.

"It looks like I will need to go to the source of information then…"

Sebastian brought his phone to his ear.

"Hello, Detective Dojima? It's Detective Chastity."

"…"

"I know, I apologize. I came into some information and I had to cancel on you and your daughter. You know how busy these investigations can be. I'm calling to ask if you and your daughter would like to come to dinner tonight. Detective Shirogane will be here as well."

Naoto looked up from her meal. It wasn't as though she had not planned to be here for dinner. She was enjoying more and more the time they spent together. When she thought of it, the thought of enjoying their time bothered her a little. Stung inside of her chest.

"Yes. We have been working constantly on it. He has been quite helpful….yes….yes…I know its short notice but I would like to assume that you didn't have any plans anyway."

"…"

"I understand. I was hoping that with the events of today that you would like to discuss your former partner…"

"…!"

"I know it seems like I'm using him as an excuse. Truth be told, I am. But I would like your insight to help with my investigation."

"…"

"Ok. I will keep you up to speed with the investigation then if you and your daughter come to dinner."

"…"

"Wonderful. Six it is. Bring wine"

Sebastian hung up the phone and slid it into his breast pocket.

"Is he always like that?"

"He is."

Sebastian turned back to the wall for a moment.

"So Dojima is coming to dinner tonight with his daughter to discuss Adachi with me. Would you like to come to dinner, Mr. Shirogane?"

Naoto looked down at her plate with a small smile.

"I would love to"

Sebastian felt his phone vibrate and pulled it from his breast pocket.

Phone number: **Blocked**

-Tomorrow afternoon, shadow world. Come alone. Bring violin.

Sebastian stared at the message for a moment longer than he should have and Naoto picked up on it with the help of Yamato.

"Is something wrong, Sebastian?"

Sebastian didn't respond for a moment as he stared at the message. It really was show time.

"Do you ever get those messages that offer Viagra? I really need to change my number…"

As Sebastian put his phone back into his breast pocket, he walked into the kitchen to eat his breakfast. Naoto watched him move, listening to the whispers of Yamato in her head.

He was lying.


	22. Chapter 22

Naoto sat quietly on the edge of the bed, her hands grasping Sebastian's tightly in hers. She was angry. Furious at him. And yet, even with all her anger, she couldn't stop herself from crying as she gripped his hand tighter. She held onto his hand tightly in hers. She hated the smell in the air of disinfectant and that disgusting soap used to clean the sheets. She hated this place. It seemed that every time she was in it something bad happened.

"You bloody idiot…"

She felt her jaw clench tightly as she pulled back a sob and leaned her head down onto his hand, pressing it tightly against her forehead. She was shaking. His skin was cold. She pulled her head back and looked down at his pale hand. She used the back of her sleeve to wipe the blood off it. She must have still had it on her face.

"I have never been meek, Sebastian…"

She dried her eyes on her other sleeve.

"Yamato and I have never been a damsel in distress. That was always a part for another girl to play; someone without self-control or the knowhow to stand up for themselves. I am not weak. I am not broken or damaged. I am not frail…"

Naoto held his hand now rather than gripping it. He had been through enough.

"But I am unable to continue this case on my own. So if Volf and you really care about us, you will fix this. You will fix you…"

Naoto leaned up and whispered quietly in his ear, her cheek pressed up against the gauze on the side of his face.

"Volf…fix this for me…"

-18 hours earlier-

Backpack slung over his shoulder, he walked home quietly from school. He checked his watch. 4:30. Dinner would no doubt be ready when he got home in the next few minutes. He yawned. He really needed to stop staying up all night. It wasn't doing anything for his studies. He could just as easily keep himself preoccupied during the day. It wasn't hard to stay preoccupied.

"Let's see…4:30…plus nine hours is…"

He counted on his fingers four plus nine though it would have been easier to do nine plus four.

"1:30 Am. So I have…"

He counted on his fingers again.

"Twelve hours. Dinner, homework, few video games, and then bed. What should I set my alarm for?"

The young woman's voice inside his head responded. It was soft and caring like a mother's touch as he felt the creature inside him. If he could have guessed, it was running its claws through his hair."

"I would say that 4am should do it, sweetheart"

"Ugh. I'm going to hate getting up and dressed that early in the morning."

"I'll make sure you get up on time. Don't worry. Just be sure you are done your homework."

"Can I play with my video games first?"

"Now that doesn't seem fair, sweetie. If you finish your homework when you finish dinner then you can play as long as you want. My big strong boy has to be early tomorrow morning for his lunch date"

"Ok ok…"

"Now don't pout. Be a good boy"

"I will…"

When he finally got home he knocked twice on the door before reaching into his pocket for the key and unlocking it. He set his backpack by the foyer mirror and stepped out of his shoes rather than untying them. He hung his jacket up in the closet and unwrapped his scarf from his neck, hooking it over the door knob to drip dry. He needed to remember to wipe up the water later from the snow.

"Mom! I'm home!"

"I'm in the kitchen, sweetie!"

He smiled and looked at himself in the mirror. He ran his hands through his red hair, straightening it out as he flattened it backwards against his head and then shook it out. Better.

He made his way to the kitchen and sat down at the table, folding his arms happily on the edge of the wood as he waited. Dinner was ready for him. A creaser salad, Slow cooked beef with carrots and potatoes, corn on the cob, and a fresh pitcher of lemonade. There was no ice in the cups.

He stood from his seat and went to the freezer, taking his and his mother's cup from the table with him to fill with ice. As he filled them, the loving arms of his mother embraced him from behind. He smiled and closed his eyes, leaning backwards into the woman who loved him. He met out a quiet murr and she squeezed him tighter.

"Glad you are home safe, sweetheart"

He smiled a little brighter and kissed his mother on the cheek before she let him go.

"Everything good today at school?"

"Yes mom. We learned about mustard gas in history"

"And?"

"Did you know it wasn't meant for killing people? It was designed to irritate originally."

"Really? I didn't know that. I always thought it was meant to kill"

"That's what it ended up doing."

The woman patted him on the backside.

"Go wash your hands for dinner"

"Ok ok"

He set the glasses down on the table and went to the bathroom to wash his hands. His mother called to him before he even got out of the kitchen.

"Sweetheart?"

"Yea mom?"

"I love you"

He smiled

"I love you too, mom"

He closed the door behind him when he got into the bathroom and pulled up on the knob on the sink to start the flow of water. The voice in his head returned as he washed his hands.

"I love you too, you know…"

"I know you do, darling. Would you like me to just ignore her when she says she loves me?"

"Not at all. I would like you to say it to me more though…"

"Do we really have to go through this again?"

"I just want to know that you love me."

"Of course I love you. You know that"

"Do you love her more than me?"

"Please don't make me do this, love…"

"Do you love her more than me?"

"She's my mom. I can't love anyone more than her. She brought me into this world"

"Us"

"Brought us into this world"

"You love her more than me, don't you?"

He finished rinsing the soap off his hands and looked at himself in the mirror.

"Don't make me chose between the two of you…"

"Then tell me you love me…"

He smiled and leaned into the glass, kissing his reflection.

"I love you"

The woman inside his head giggled and grew quiet.

"Now it's your turn. Be a good girl. Understand? We can get plenty of exercise later"

"I'll be good."

"Tell me that you love me"

"I love you"

He winked at his reflection after drying his hands and returning to the kitchen for dinner. Dinner with his mother was over quickly. He was starving. Eating for two always made it worse and his mother was always surprised how much food he could eat without gaining any weight. She had finished before him and simply sat at the table with her beautiful son, watching him eat. Occasionally he would glance over at her smiling at him. He couldn't hide his smile in return

"What?"

"Nothing. Can't I just look at my handsome boy?"

She reached out and ruffled his hair. He pulled back his head

"Mom. Come on. You're embarrassing me"

She stood from her seat with her plate and glass, heading over to the sink.

"Can you help me with the dishes sweetie?"

"Sure mom"

After helping his mother wish the dishes, he went upstairs to his room with his backpack and set his books on his desk, getting started on his homework. If he finished quickly, he could play a few games by himself before his shower and heading to bed. He needed to be up early after all. Math, Science, and history. It shouldn't take him more than an hour to complete his work. And with her help, he would be done faster.

"You will double check my work right?"

"Mmhm. I'll make sure to tell you if you get anything wrong. Is your flute ready for tonight?"

"I polished it last night. Just need to give it a quick once over to make sure it's clean"

"Well make sure you do it. Otherwise it will seem unprofessional"

"I will. Want to do science or math first?"

"Science. Leave math for last. I love numbers"

Science had taken less than fifteen minutes to finish. The human anatomy was a subject he already knew plenty about. Naming the bones of the human body, where the organs were placed, and what blood was a combination of. All so exciting.

"Femur"

"I know that"

He marked it down on his diagram of the human skeleton along with upper and lower mandible before he turned to his history homework. World War I was still the subject. Tonight's homework: Trench foot. When the history was done, the woman's voice in his head let out several quiet clicks and murrs during the math homework. It was hard for him to concentrate on it with the noise.

"Calm down, darling"

"I love numbers. Can you say them out loud for me?"

The long slender claws ran along his scalp again and he felt himself slump down on his desk with the feeling. It was relaxing and felt lovely. He groaned happily and closed his eyes, his toes curling against the white carpet of his floor. He loved having his head scratched. He had loved the days when the faculty at school would check for lice with those wooden sticks they ran between each student's hair. It was hard for him not to fall asleep to it.

"Ok. I'll read them out loud. But I want some attention before bed. Keep doing that later. But I need to work"

The feeling stopped and he leaned back up in his seat to continue on with his work, speaking out the numbers and steps he was taking to solve the mathematical equations as he worked his way through them. The woman's voice murred happily when he spoke them. If it made her happy, he would keep speaking them. Whatever kept her happy.

When homework was done be went for his shower and brushed his teeth, flossing twice and taking an extra ten seconds with his mouthwash. With towel wrapped around his body, he set out his cloths for the next morning. December 6th. A Saturday. He set out his jacket and dress shirt with a thin blue tie. Normally this wear was for Sundays only when he and his mother went to church. His church cloths. He wasn't religious. He never had been. But he liked confessing to the priests his sins knowing full well they took them as a joke. Luckily for him, they played along. It was kind of their thing. Black slacks with his black dress shoes. He hung his suit up on the hook at the door and smoothed out the creases and wrinkles on the fabric.

"You should probably head to bed sweetheart."

"Ok. You are still going to rub my head until I fall asleep right?"

"I promise"

He smiled and opened the door to his room

"Hey mom! I'm heading to bed early. Long day."

His mother called from downstairs.

"Ok sweetheart. Have a good night. Love you"

He locked his door as he closed it and let the towel drop from his body. He finished drying his back and hair before lying down in bed, cuddling up to the stuffed animal of a little white and brown bunny as he turned on his side. Then he felt the claws along his head that ran through his hair and along his scalp. The feeling made his eyes flutter and close as he relaxed, the woman's voice singing quietly to him a lullaby as she cooed him to sleep. His eyes opened momentarily and he looked from side to side, ensuring he was alone in his room before pulling the covers up over his head and putting the tip of his thumb between his teeth, biting it gently between them until he fell asleep.

Late into the night, a constant ticking noise inside his head eventually woke him up from his slumber. He turned over on his other side and pulled the blankets up to his neck. He felt around for the bunny and eventually found it near his legs. He pulled it back up to his chest and wrapped his arms around it, stroking the bunny's ears back gently.

"There you are Mr. Bunny…"

He sighed and closed his eyes again, working at his attempt to fall back asleep. The ticking persisted though and he slowly cracked his eyes. He leaned up in bed and stretched, scratching his sides and chest with a yawn.

"What time is it?"

"3:30 sweetie"

He sighed and sat there in bed with his eyes closed for a moment longer before he finally got up to get dressed. He twisted his upper body from side to side and stretched his arms and legs. He slapped his hands against his face a few times to wake him up. He wasn't used to getting up this early but this was luckily just a onetime thing.

"Thank you for waking me up."

"Anytime"

He smiled in the dark of his room as he finished putting on his socks and looked at himself in the mirror of his dresser. He fixed his tie and folded the collar of his shirt back. He let out another yawn and rubbed his eyes with both hands. What a morning. He hoped he wasn't going to yawn all morning.

"Think he will be there, sweetheart?"

The boy smiled a little as he picked up his flute and looked over the instrument to make sure everything was ok.

"You didn't go over it last night like you said you were going to"

"I know. But you got me up early enough to give it the check I needed to give it."

"I know…"

The boy snapped the case of his flute closed and picked it under his arm as he looked around his room.

"Knife, wallet, flute, keys…am I missing anything?"

He patted the spots on his body where the items were as he called them out

"You're going to be late sweetie…"

"I'm going I'm going"

He walked across the room to the TV in the corner and reached his hand through. He stepped on the edge of the screen and stepped into the shadow world, flute clutched tightly under his arm.

"How much travel time are we looking at?"

"About fifteen minutes, darling"

"Well I hope he is late. I would hate to be late myself"

Sebastian took care not to get any sand in his shoes as he landed in the shadow world in the playground. The destruction of Sebastian and Naoto was still present on the grounds. The clubhouse was still broken open from the beasts of a thousand hands and the gaping maws still broken only now it had caved in on itself from the creatures all trying to push through at the same time. The swing set still bent and broken, the jungle gym destroyed. Such a waste.

He clutched his violin case in his hand and spoke quietly as he looked around.

"Should I stand here and wait or just start walking?"

Volf growled, the sound of the beast sniffing through Sebastian cutting through the fog in his head.

"Start walking. The last thing we need is a key entry point to your whereabouts being known"

Sebastian stepped out of the large sandbox playground and began to walk down one of the black roads. No wind brushed against his skin. This shadow world was much different than the one at home. The one at home was more vibrant. Had more color and music in the streets that he walked. This one was just eerie. No people, no noise, no wind. Nothing but the sound of his footsteps as he walked the road. The gun at his side felt heavy. He brushed his arm against it to ensure it was in fact there. He felt more secure with it around. This was unfamiliar territory for him. He knew every corner to the shadow world back home. The shadows there feared him. Or respected. He couldn't tell.

As he walked down the road it began to turn into more of a city. He was surprised how little distance he had to travel to get from the countryside shadow world to the city. With that in mind, he wondered where everyone else's TV's were placed. If he was to climb into the television at the police station, where would it take him? Or the TV upstairs in the guest bedroom? Or the big one at Junes? Maybe Naoto would know. Even with all this land undiscovered, he wondered what Naoto had seen in the shadow world outside of the few places she had been in the investigation. What had Kanji seen? What had Teddie and Yosuke seen? He would need to ask later.

"Detective Chastity!"

Sebastian felt himself freeze at his name and glanced up to where it was coming from. Atop one of the buildings ahead of him, along the ninth floor was a figure calling to him. He knew the voice. The figure pointed upwards to the top of the building.

"Top floor! I wanna show you something really cool!"

Sebastian waved to the figure even though his heart had been beating in his chest loud enough to be in his ears. He cleared his throat and continued his walk. As he walked towards the large skyscraper, he glanced about into the alleyways and cross streets of the empty intersections. Shadows. Lots of them. The different figures dragged themselves along the roads mindlessly. Sebastian watched as several rushed towards him to attack but stopped short of him on the cross street. He had reached for his gun but waited to watch them. They snarled or clicked or screeched but did not attack as they paced or shuffled or slid from side to side. Why weren't they attacking him?

Sebastian glanced up to the street lights. Their intersection had a red light where as he had a green one. He felt a small smile crease his face as he returned his hand to his side, uncurling his fingers from the grip of his side arm.

"I wonder what happens if you disobey the traffic laws in this world…"

At the entrance to the building, Sebastian made his way through the empty loby. It reminded him of his work at home. White marble floors that clacked loudly with his footsteps. Again, like the night he had danced with Naoto, he felt like the center of attention unnecessarily because of the sounds his shoes made. He pressed the UP button on the elevator and waited for the elevator to come down.

He found himself shifting from side to side as though about to walk into the boxing ring. His free hand clenched and unclenched and he pulled back on his tie as he took deep breaths. The doors opened and he stepped inside, pressing the button for the top floor.

"Are you ok, Sebastian?"

"No, Volf. I'm not ok"

"Should you have really done this?"

"He said if I tell Naoto he will kill her and I. I would rather she live to see another day"

"But you couldn't even tell her you were going. She doesn't even know where you are right now"

"I know. But it's for the best. I want to keep her safe"

"By putting us both in danger?"

"Would you rather she know?"

"No…"

"Would you rather she be here?"

"Gods no!"

"Then what would you have had me do?"

"Not have come to meet him"

"If I can get close enough, Volf, then I can end this case today. We can go home tomorrow. We can get back to regular life!"

"Is that what you really want?"

Sebastian was a little surprised Volf had asked such a foolish question. But when he really thought of it, did he really want to go home? Leave her? Like Souji? He liked having her around. He enjoyed her company. He enjoyed cooking for her and knowing she was asleep in the next room. He enjoyed sleep…

"I don't know, Volf. But let's finish this and decide where we go from here"

The elevator let out a ding and the doors opened to the top floor. He stepped out onto the floor, the elevator doors closing behind him. He could feel how high he was. He could literally feel how high he was in the building. It made him feel uneasy and he felt like crawling on the floor on his hands and knees for support. But if he did that, he couldn't imagine how he would feel about anyone watching.

"Hello?"

There was no answer. Instead, a door closed off at the other end of the floor. A stairwell. Roof. He made his way through the floor and past the desks and offices of the building. The scratched out names on the doors, the white tile floors, the thick wooden desks all shiny and clean, the empty bookshelves in every office that took entire walls. It looked like a law firm. He would have to cross reference this building with the workplace of the lawyer Shirogane had found earlier in the case. Maybe there was a match.

Sebastian made his way to the stairwell and climbed the two smaller flights of stairs up to the roof. He cleared his throat and straightened his tie before opening the door to the beautiful black and red warping sky. At the other end of the roof, sitting on the edge with his back on the world and facing Sebastian was a figure.

The boy in front of him had short red hair and a small gap between his teeth as he smiled at Sebastian. He blew against the hair on his forehead and ran one of his hands through it to pull his hair back off of his forehead. It irritated him. The boy was young. Sebastian eyed him up and down. His shoulder length, his arm length, the way he sat and carried himself, the way he smiled, the length of his hair and the thickness of his wrists and length of his fingers. 14. The boy was 14.

This was Simon? It couldn't be.

"Detective Chastity"

The boy stood up from his spot and brushed off the back of his slacks a few times. He shouldn't have sat down. His pants were going to get dirty. He approached the detective with a smile, his eyes steeling a glance towards his violin case.

"You brought it. Good. Glad to see we can follow basic instructions"

Volf snarled inside his head

"Something isn't right, Sebastian. His smell is all wrong. I can smell out victims in him"

Sebastian spoke quietly in his head, not wanting anything else to hear. He had a hunch he didn't want to come to light

'What do you mean you can smell them?'

"This is a trap. Something is terribly wrong"

The boy offered his hand for Sebastian to shake

"Simon"

Sebastian looked at the hand a moment before hesitantly shaking it

"Sebastian…"

"A pleasure to finally meet you. Pity it couldn't be under different circumstances. Like you said, I'm sure we would be friends."

Simon turned his back to Sebastian and walked back to the edge of the building, picking up his flute case

"Shoot him, Sebastian. Take your gun and shoot him right now!"

Sebastian felt his arm rise to his hip to grasp his gun but felt it freeze when Simon opened the case to his flute, setting it down on one of the air conditioning vents on the roof as he began to put together his instrument. Sebastian walked up beside the boy and set his case down as well, cracking it open to his violin.

"My word, Sebastian. That looks really nice"

"I enjoy my things. I like taking care of them"

Simon nudged him and set the last piece of his flute together, trilling his lips a few times

"What did you call me here for, Simon?"

"We can get to that later. Right now I want to show you something. Watch this"

Simon stood near the edge of the building and blew into his flute. He could play. He played well. As he played a few notes, Sebastian watched the buildings across from them as Simon played , warming up. The lights of the buildings began to flicker on and off with his notes, reacting to the sounds his flute made. The lights traveled from side to side on the building and up and down with how he went up and down the music scales he played.

"Please Sebastian. Kill him. Push him off. Something. Anything!"

Sebastian ran his bow across his block of resin before he drew the instrument to his neck and ran his bow across the strings, a separate building lighting up and sending the light up and down the rooms and office spaces. It was beautiful. Simon had stopped playing to listen to Sebastian play a few notes. He was smiling. There were seven buildings to play with.

"You play really well, Sebastian. Do you know Moonlight Sonata?"

Sebastian nodded and moved his fingers for the first note.

"Impress me, Simon"

Simon smiled and brought the flute to his lips. Sebastian tapped his foot in 4/4 time. One…two…three…four…

Naoto knocked on the door for the third time. His car was still here and she hadn't seen him on the road. She was certain he was home. She knocked again and rang the doorbell. Nothing. It wasn't like Sebastian to go anywhere without telling her. Maybe he was asleep? No. he couldn't sleep without her around.

"Are they inside? Can you sense Volf?"

"I cannot. Did you receive any text messages?"

Naoto pulled her phone from her breast pocket and checked it. Nothing.

"No…"

Naoto stepped down from the door and walked around to the back of the house, looking in through the glass door of the living room. Nothing. She noticed his violin was missing from beside the couch from the night before at dinner. Maybe he had been playing it in his room. She tested the door and it slid open. He really needed to step on his security. Anyone could have walked in at any time. She sat on the edge of the living room and unzipped her boots before stepping inside the house.

"Sebastian?"

She knocked on the door to his bedroom.

"Sebastian, are you in there?"

She looked down for a moment

"Um…are you decent if you are in there?"

There was no sound so she opened the door. Nothing. His bed was made and untouched. She kneeled down beside it and pressed her hand under the blankets. Cold. He hadn't been here recently. Then again, it was past noon. What was she expecting? Lunch? Lunch…what about lunch?

She walked into the kitchen. No dishes in the sink. Perhaps he had done them already. She opened the drawer of the utensils and the cupboard with his plates in them. Cleanest would be at the top. She ran her finger along the top plate. Dry as a bone. She checked the utensils drawer. Dry. No lunch.

"Car in the driveway, bed cold, and dishes dry…"

She checked the trash can

"No sign of food preparation or anything that wasn't from last night's dinner…"

She walked up the stairs, checking the former web room and spare bedroom and bathroom. Nothing. The house was empty. Sebastian wasn't here. Naoto looked around as she walked back into the living room.

"Sebastian wouldn't have gone anywhere without telling me…"

"What about a jog? He does that right?"

Naoto went back into the bedroom. She found his running shoes and his mp3 player.

"Not unless he's running in his dress shoes."

She went back into the living room and took her coat off, setting it on the table. He would be back eventually. Until that time, she thought it best if she got some work on the case done. Maybe if she was lucky she could see something he missed. She went over to his circle of photos and placed her hands on either side of the new 'web' he had created, examining the pictures while running the case facts in her head.

"What makes these people so special, Yamato?"

"It's not their job or their money. It seems so random. What is he playing at?"

"There is something here we aren't seeing. The pattern breaks at Adachi. All these people share something in common. So Adachi is our prime lead. What is it about Adachi that out perpetrator found so important?"

She recalled last night's dinner with Dojima and Nanako. The questions Sebastian had asked seemed to pull at Dojima.

"Detective Dojima, was Adachi a quiet man?"

"Not really no. secluded yes. Quiet, no. Shy perhaps. He always had these ideas of who he should have been. Egotistical in a sense deep down beneath his shy and friendly demeanor"

"Was he ever violent?"

"Other than the one time at the end of the investigation no. Not really. He was rather timid actually."

Sebastian had propped his head up on his hands as he thought.

"What would make someone so interested in Adachi to kill him? He's not that interesting. He may be egotistical and borderline schizophrenic, but he's boring."

Naoto rubbed her eyes and put her hand back on the wall, staring into the photos.

"It's something so simple. Something staring us right in the face. Something we haven't dared consider. What do all these people have in common?!"

"Sweetheart…"

"I'm not going to have my town turned into a graveyard. If I have to gather everyone with a persona and march right in there to hunt this bastard down, I will!"

Naoto felt her heart skip a beat. That was it. She glanced to Adachi's photo then to the rest. Their faces. Their eyes. They were all lying. Each of them was lying. The same lie Sebastian had told everyone in his entire life. The same lie Naoto had told.

"They are all persona users…"

Sebastian put his violin back into its case along with the bow, snapping the case closed. Simon stood with flute in hand looking out over the landscape and down to the street. It had been a wonderful performance. Both were thoroughly impressed.

"Simon…?"

"Hmm?"

"Why did you call me here? Surely not to play with me"

Simon shook his head as he sat down on the edge of the building. He kicked his legs back and forth, his heels banging against the glass. He let out a yawn before speaking.

"I try my best to ensure all my victims are comfortable before I kill them. My contact told me that my last victim's favorite meal was cabbage. So I had cabbage stir-fry made up for him before I killed him. No doubt you will be getting that in the autopsy report in the future. Well, your partner will anyway."

"So you invited me in here to kill me…"

"I did. But let's not talk about that right now."

Simon stood up slowly with a grunt and brushed off his pants again.

"I'm more interested in meeting your persona"

"I don't have a persona…"

"I know you don't. You have something more primitive…"

Sebastian felt Volf stir inside of him.

"Leave, Sebastian. Please!"

Simon smiled a little wider exposing his toothy grin.

"I'll show you mine if you show me yours…"

"Show me yours and I'll show you mine."

Simon shrugged and kept his smile on his face as a blue light started to encircle him. The same blue light Sebastian had seen come from Naoto. But no card. No card with this one. Simon's smile disappeared and for a moment he seemed uncomfortable as he shifted his shoulders around. Sebastian noticed the bulge under his right shoulder and Simon lifted his hand up to Sebastian palm up. The bulge traveled from the tip of his shoulder and down his arm underneath his shirt and jacket. Sebastian watched the little black legs poke out from the shirt and tiny glowing ruby red eyes looked at him from under the darkness of the boy's shirt.

"Come on, sweetie. Don't be shy. Say hello to the detective"

The little black, red, and yellow spider crawled from under the sleeve of the boy's shirt and into the palm of his hand. Its little chelicera's clicked together, its fangs knocking against one another. The little spider seemed a little shy of Sebastian as he leaned in to get a closer look at it.

Its legs looked sharp and jagged in several different spaces like warped swords of different colors. Its red eyes were like stones and the three colors that made up its body stood out to its snow white abdomen. The little spider approached Sebastian's face and nudged one of its legs up against his nose. Sebastian smiled a little. Playful little thing.

"Sebastian, I would like you to meet Anansi"

"Named after the west African god of knowledge and stories. A trickster…"

"You know your history, Sebastian. Or would that be geography?"

Sebastian ignored the question and reached up, stroking the head of the little spider slowly. It let out several small purrs that were rather audible as it enjoyed the attention. Then it snapped its jaws at Sebastian, trying to bite him. Sebastian was able to pull his hand back before it was too late. Simon tapped the spider on its head.

"Anansi, shame on you. Behave yourself around our guest. You're going to kill him in a few minutes. The least you could do is behave."

Sebastian took several steps back, wanting to get well out of the distance of the spider.

'Volf…do you have a plan of escape?'

"From up here, I do. But it's going to require some pain."

'I'll deal with it…'

"Simon?"

The boy looked from the little spider to Sebastian, putting the creature onto the ground as he approached, the little black creature skittering off the edge of the building, climbing down the glass. Its body began to twist and reshape itself. Sebastian hopped backwards onto the air conditioning vent, unaware of what the spider was doing.

"If my fate is already sealed, would you mind answering a few questions for me? You're already going to kill me. What are a few questions to hurt?"

"Sounds reasonable, detective. Why so calm?"

"I have never been one to argue with fate"

Simon smiled and hopped up on the vent with Sebastian, sitting beside him as they looked into the shadowy horizon.

"Why did you Kill Adachi? You broke your pattern."

"I had a pattern?"

"Well you killed six people with very promising futures and careers underneath them."

"All of them?"

Sebastian was a little shocked he didn't know.

"Yes. All of them"

"Interesting. But to answer the question, I killed him because he had something I wanted."

"Which was?"

"Well it's not really me who wanted it. Anansi wanted it. So I got it for her."

"What was it?"

"His persona"

"You killed him because he had a persona?"

"No. That was a bonus. I killed him because Anansi wanted the persona"

"I don't understand. Why wou-"

Sebastian felt the answer hit him like a ton of bricks to the face. Or perhaps it had been Simon's fist as he had turned and struck him in the nose. Sebastian fell backwards off the vent and landed hard on his back with a thud. He rolled over onto his front and onto his knees as he tried to stand up. He couldn't see.

"That was three questions Sebastian"

Simon struck him hard in the stomach with a powerful kick that caused Sebastian to vomit up onto the gravel roof of the building after his knees gave out from under him. How was the boy so strong? A fourteen year old boy wasn't meant to be this strong physically. Each strike that had landed felt like he had been hit with a baseball bat. And he knew what that felt like.

"Want to keep asking questions?"

Volf roared inside his head.

"Stay conscious. Focus on the pain. The pain will keep you awake"

Sebastian slowly drew his knees up to his stomach and rolled onto them, slowly standing up to his shaking legs. The world was growing black. But if he passed out now, he would never wake up again. He nodded his head and tried to speak, blood now running down his face and along his shirt and jacket. Simon had broken his nose and two ribs. He had more to break.

"Why do you attack those with a persona? What do you do?"

Simon lunged at Sebastian but he managed to reach up and catch the boy. The knee to the stomach had caught him off guard and he felt the strength in his arms waver and give up when Simon's strong strike collided with his sternum. He felt it crack and he fell backward onto his back.

"I eat them…"


	23. Chapter 23

The next two right hooks to his jaw made him feel lightheaded and the strength of the second one caused him to spin around. His legs gave out again and he dropped back down onto his knees. He was growing numb.

Eat them? What did that even mean? Eat personas? Simon walked up behind him and pressed his fist up against Sebastian's back, pressing his knuckles against his scar. Sebastian felt that pain cut through him and he straightened as Simon's free arm wrapped around his throat.

"Got any other questions, Sebastian?"

He needed to keep Simon talking. He needed more information. Give Simon the notion he was going to have his way.

'Volf, focus my pain on my heart. The adrenaline will keep me conscious. I need this'

"…as you say…"

Sebastian coughed a few times and Simon relaxed his arm around his throat some.

"Sorry, was I choking you?"

Sebastian threw his head back into Simon's nose. The boy reeled back and brought his hands to his face. Sebastian felt the center of his chest start to hurt and he pressed his hand to rub at it as he forced himself back to his feet.

Simon brought his fingers under his nose several times to check for blood. Nothing. That was a relief. Sebastian ran his tongue along in his mouth and spat out the blood in it. If he didn't fight back and stay awake he was going to die here. His chest aches from the broken bones and his face was on fire from his broken nose and the blood that ran from it.

"Simon, what happens when you eat them? Why attack Persona users?"

Simon walked briskly up to Sebastian and threw a right hook. Sebastian leaned back but caught the arm, twisting it around Simon's back and pulling it up trying to dislocate his shoulder. Simon yelled out at the pull but threw his other elbow back and cracked Sebastian in the side of the jaw with it. Sebastian didn't know if Simon had dislocated or fractured it as he stumbled back, the pain in his head was unrecognizable now as his head went numb. Simon rushed Sebastian again and tackled him in the stomach and chest, the broken ribs and cracked sternum causing him to fall to the ground easily. Simon struck Sebastian in the chest with several quick strikes to the ribcage. Sebastian couldn't feel the pain anymore, but he felt the ribs break with the punches.

The boy grabbed Sebastian by the shoulder and sat on his knees as he turned the detective over and delivered several more strikes to the scar on his spine and against Sebastian's spinal cord. He pulled back on Sebastian's hair as he began to scream with the blows to the sensitive spots, reveling in the music he made. He felt Sebastian go limp and his shoulders slumped. He stopped striking the man and climbed off his back.

He lifted the detectives head up to look into his face. He was unconscious. Or was he dead? He opened one of Sebastian's eyes.

"Still alive in there?"

His iris reacted to the light and Simon smiled. He was alive. Good. Grabbing Sebastian by the hair he dragged him to the edge of the building, the man's nice boots dragging against the gravel roof as he was pulled. He grabbed Sebastian by the collar with both his hands and lifted him into the air, holding him above the ground and over the edge of the building.

"For each wielder I kill, I get stronger in this world. We both get stronger, Anansi and I. The real world is so dull and boring. Get up, eat breakfast, go to school, come home, eat dinner, homework, shower, bed. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Day after day after day. It's boring, Sebastian! It's so much more fun in this world. Here I am feared by the shadows and they are terrified of Anansi and I. Your murderer is not a man. He's a monster. And now you will suffer the same fate as those weaklings did before. Now, if you summon your Shadow, I will let you die quickly. Otherwise, I will tear him from you. Do you understand me?"

Somewhere in the middle of Simon's droning on, Sebastian had regained consciousness. He felt like he was dying. He felt like he felt when he was in the hospital those few years ago after his car accident. Only now he felt like he was coming apart piece by piece. The pain in his chest was unbearable and his whole body shook as he tried to stay alive, kept awake only by the adrenaline running through his veins. He could feel how erratic his heart was beating. But somewhere inside of him he found the ability to talk.

"…ok"

He coughed several times and could feel the bones in his chest move out of place with them.

"I'll summon him…"

Volf snapped.

"Sebastian, please!"

'It's your move, my friend…'

Simon slowly lowered Sebastian to his feet after taking a step back from the edge. Sebastian felt like he was going to collapse when his feet touched the ground and his knees started to shake. At least he was going to die on his feet.

"One more question…Simon…please"

"Go on…"

"How…h-…how did you… get them from one place to another?"

"The others?"

Sebastian nodded.

"I figured out a way to travel in this world. It's vast. Much like the real world. But I figured out a way to travel quickly and get from one place to another faster than on foot. Anansi has a web trail all over this world. We simply travel the wires she weaves. I can kill someone in Russia and transport their body to the Middle East if I chose as long as we have the line…Now please, summon him…"

Sebastian threw up on the roof again as the red light began to envelope him and the red translucent shape began to grow off of his body. Simon had a smile from ear to ear as he watched, his hands on his mouth to prevent Sebastian from hearing him giggling as Sebastian's light began to take shape.

"You'll never get your hands on him…"

Sebastian was a little relieved. His jaw was dislocated, not fractured. Simon's smile disappeared.

"What?"

"Someday soon, Simon, I'm going to kill you. I promise…"

Simon reached out at Sebastian but Sebastian simply let his body fall backwards off the edge of the building as his exhaustion and desire to lie down overcame him. He was in free-fall now as he fell off the building. Face down, Sebastian looked below him and felt fear race through his body as he watched the spider below him. The little black playful spider was massive, easily three stories tall now. It's long sharp twisted limbs were driven deep inside the glass of the building. Below him, several dozen strands of silver wire were laid out for him. The spider had been busy designing a web while its master was busy breaking down her prey.

So that's how they did it. Capture, drain, summon persona, and then kill it. The killing of it would in turn physically damage the host. Adachi had hemorrhaging because the persona had been killed. That would have explained the blood in the mouth. Only, Adachi probably knew how to summon his persona and had tried to fight off the large spider. It was obvious by this point that he had failed miserably at defending himself and had suffered before ending up hanging from that street light. And the wire on his ankle was the spider's web.

That notion raised more questions than it was good for. On the one hand, that meant it was physically possible to attack the outside world with that webbing. At the same time, did that mean that a shadow or persona could be brought into the real world? He doubted it. Still, it was not entirely out of the question. If a byproduct of Anansi was brought into the real world, who is to say that Anansi could not be brought? But this spider was too big. No TV could…

"Size difference…"

The beast could possibly be brought into the real world. But it still seemed farfetched. If a persona was a part of someone, then the spider couldn't be brought into the world. Two objects could not occupy the same space at the same time. That was the Pauli Exclusion Principle. Maybe Simon was…no. No this was a baseless theory. Simon was interested in living in this shadow world more than anything; maybe ruling it. There was no way that Simon had figured out a way to get Anansi into the real world. That's not what Simon was about, but there was something more; something more selfish.

The Spiders clicking screech as she saw Sebastian falling broke him out of his quick stupor. As the red light continued to form off his body, he felt the blood running down his cheek from his eye where he had popped a blood vessel and done some surface damage. He felt his skin split in several places on his face and shoulders, chest and back. Summoning Volf was taking so much out of him. And in his broken weakened state, it was the only way his body could keep from falling apart.

The large Wolf formed from the red light coming off his body and roared out as its strong arm wrapped itself around Sebastian's body. He needed to get them somewhere safe. Volf drove his powerful arm into the building and cried out in a howl as it's claws ripped at the cement and glass of the building as they continued to fall, using the dragging resistance to slow their fall. Volf eventually reached low enough and slowed down enough to throw Sebastian through one of the windows of the building.

Sebastian flew through the glass and landed hard on the purple and blue carpet of the office he had been thrown into, his body sliding across the glass and up against a cubicle wall. Volf jumped in after him, his powerful legs thudding hard against the ground as he charged for Sebastian. The movement had caught Sebastian off guard with Volf's plan and the renewed adrenaline gave him the strength to push himself up on his hands, glass sinking into his skin as he leaned up and stood on his feet. He needed to move. He needed to get away from this.

Volf Grabbed Sebastian by the back of his jacket and threw him into the next room as one of the spiders long sharp legs drove itself through the building and after the two of them. Volf, having thrown Sebastian was turned away from the leg and howled as the sharp tip slashed from Volf's shoulder and down to his hip across his back. The wolf howled as it stumbled forward and Sebastian dropped to the ground, flopping like a fish and dragging his legs against the ground as he reached back, hand pressed tightly against his back. No sound came from his throat. The pain had crossed over the large scar on his back.

Volf stumbled forward onto one knee but pushed himself back up, turning to meet the large spider's leg as it swatted from side to side trying to find its prey. Volf's body lit up like a firecracker as its strong claws caught the spider's leg and a torrent of electricity poured from its body and traveled down the thick carapace of the arachnid just outside the building. There was a screech and skitter clicking of jaws as the spider pulled back its leg from the building from Volf's grip. Volf knew the spider couldn't be defeated so easily and that this was a losing battle. But the arachnid had retracted its appendage. It was a start.

Sebastian felt his body shaking and his back felt like it was on fire; a deep tissue nerve fire that traveled around his shoulders and into his stomach. It was agony. But when he saw Volf approach he managed to get himself to his feet.

Simon had reveled in the moment the wolf had been pulled from Sebastian's being. Such strength and speed in that one. He wanted it. He needed that one. But the wolf had put itself in harm's way to protect and save his wielder rather than attack Anansi. That wasn't like the others. All the others had gone for the attack but this wolf was playing defense. When the wolf dove into the building he screamed down to his spider.

"Get them! Kill them! I want that wolf!"

Anansi wanted to eat that wolf, but the electricity had damaged its legs. Nerve damage. Simon barely felt it. Its carapace was too thick and the personas it had eaten had made it so strong that even with the tremendous amount of electricity the wolf poured into his spider, Simon had barely felt a thing. Simon leapt from the end of the building and began to fall towards the ground. This was all a game to him. A game he intended to win. No one had escaped yet. He wasn't going to let Sebastian be the first.

Anansi 's large maw opened and several thick strands of silver shot from deep in the blackness of its gullet and struck deep into the building as it looked up to its master. Its large body was pulled by these strands as it launched itself into the air and its eight legs kicked off the building, catching Simon gently in its legs as it landed on the smaller building opposite the one Simon had jumped from.

Sebastian rushed through the building with Volf behind him. His steps were as quick as he could, but he was losing a lot of blood and even the adrenaline was slowing down and the world growing darker.

"Volf…Volf…we need to…get…to the...b….bottom. Get home…call help…"

Sebastian heard Volf's voice inside his head whisper instructions and turned from his running path towards an office on the other side of the building. As he ran at it, he kicked up a little more speed and jumped, crashing through the glass of the office window. At least he didn't have to stand or jump anymore.

Volf's strong arm wrapped around him again and the beast repeated his earlier trick by dragging his strong hand down the side of the building to slow their decent as its claws ripped through the building. Sebastian hung limply in the wolf's arm as he tried to stay awake.

It was Volf's turn to be scared as he looked above them at the encroaching darkness overhead as the large spider began to skitter and claw its way down the side of the building from the roof. Simon called to his arachnid to go faster as it practically fell from the sky after them like a large storm cloud of metal and teeth. Volf pulled his arm from the building and landed with a hard thud on the ground, his legs buckling under him from the force of the landing. Sebastian groaned and Volf rolled to absorb the force before it set Sebastian on the ground. They were out of time.

"Volf…"

Volf drove his strong arm into the ground and it burst open, the tube television Sebastian used to travel by buried beneath the earth. Volf grabbed Sebastian and held him over the screen, his body reduced to red light as Sebastian fell through the screen and back into the real world.

Simon landed hard on the ground on the back of Anansi, a cloud of dust and debris rising up with the force of the impact. He climbed off the spiders back and slid down its body checking to see if they had in fact caught Sebastian. Crushed him. But no; there was no body, no wolf, only the broken television they had left by. Simon screamed to the sky

"Son of a Bitch!"

Simon kicked at the broken television and cursed over and over again. He had escaped. He had let his enjoyment of Sebastian's suffering get the better of him. Sebastian had played by the rules and taken the blows for the answers. But even in his fit of anger, Simon felt good in the knowledge that there was a very slim chance that Sebastian was to survive the ordeal. And even if he did, he would never forget it. He would have another chance at his prize.

Simon ran his hands through his short red hair and pulled up on his tie. He brushed off the sleeves of his jacket and straightened it. it was filthy.

"Take me home, Anansi. We can work something out later."

Naoto talked quietly into her phone to the person she had called. She kept her eyes on the photos of the victims on the wall as she spoke.

"So I implore you: please be careful who you talk to. He might try and target you. I don't know for certain. I am just relaying what I **do** know"

"Thank you for the call, Naoto-kun. Should I tell Chie and the others?"

"I would appreciate that. I was going to call them but you were the first person on my contact list, Amagi-san"

"I understand. Thank you for warning me. And good luck on the case. And your partner"

"I will. Please be safe"

Naoto hung up the call and slid her phone back into her breast pocket.

"So you kill those that have personas. But to what end? What purpose could you have in killing them?"

She recalled Adachi's body. How vacant it felt. How the monstrous persona that they had fought years ago was gone from his body.

"You…take them. You take their personas away from them. But what…what do you…-"

The holes. The bite marks!

"You eat them…? No. you don't eat them. You are nothing more than a man. A man doesn't eat personas. Your persona does…"

Naoto had a hard time understanding the concept of the case should this be true. A man kills persona users to have his persona eat theirs. She couldn't imagine the end result.

The sharp pain in her head caused her to falter and brace herself against the wall. She brought her hand to her eye, pressing her palm again it, trying to dull the pain. She grit her teeth and drew breath through them in a quiet hiss. Yamato called to her.

"Sebastian!"

Naoto heard the faint breathing behind her and turned around to the scene. Sebastian was lying on the ground in front of the television, blood running freely from his body as he struggled to stay alive; his body a mess of blood, torn and dusty clothing, and glass. Naoto rushed up to him, pulling him up into her leg as she kneeled down. She brought her hand to his mouth. He was breathing. Her mind raced. What was she going to do? Slowly Sebastian's eyes opened up and he looked up to her.

"S-shirogane…"

"Stay with me, Sebastian"

He smiled slightly, his jaw off center from the dislocation.

"I think I need medical attention…"

Naoto reached for her phone, it slipping from her fingers from the blood on her hands. She reached for it on the floor, dialing 911 for an ambulance.

"I figured out who has been doing this…Shirogane…"

"Don't talk, Sebastian. They will be here soon. Stay awake until then."

The phone clicked on the other end of the phone.

"911, please state the nature of your emergency"

"This is Detective Naoto Shirogane of the Inaba police department. I need an ambulance right away!"

Sebastian smiled slightly and took a small breath, his head collapsing against her chest as he passed out.

"It's…a spi…spider…"

"Sebastian? Sebastian!"

He didn't respond. His breathing was shallow. She brought her hand to his mouth. It was getting fainter. She felt Yamato speak through her.

"Volf. Keep him alive!"

At the hospital, Sebastian was rolled in on a stretcher. His jacket and shirt had been opened up and as Shirogane followed after him with the paramedics, she looked over the many cuts that had opened along his chest and stomach. There were pieces of glass all over his body and inside him. He was very pale from the lack of blood that now remained in him. One of the doctors in the lead of the group pushed people out of the way.

"We need to get him into surgery right away. Get that glass out of him. Close his wounds"

"He's bleeding out, doctor"

Sebastian gave a small convulsion on the stretcher as he fought unconsciously to stay alive and keep himself from the blackness. Shirogane rushed through the doctors to his side, holding his hand. She couldn't grip it tightly because of the glass.

"Stay alive, Sebastian. Don't give up."

One of the doctors from the group as they reached the surgery wing of the hospital left the group and put his arm around her, pulling her from Sebastian.

"I'm sorry, detective but you will have to wait outside."

"Please. Let me stay with him"

"I'm afraid I can't do that, sir. Please let us work. We will update you on his progress once he has made any"

The doctor left Shirogane in the hallway as they were buzzed through the large salmon colored doors and the red light above the door turned on to indicate the surgery was now in progress. Naoto was alone in that hallway and she couldn't look away from the door.

"Naoto…"

"Don't, Yamato…"

"Naoto…go sit down. You may fall down if you don't"

Naoto felt her legs get weak and she moved for the wall, bracing herself against it. Nope. She was going down. Her knees gave way and she turned to brace her back against the wall as she slid down it to the floor. She looked at her hands. Blood. Sebastian's blood. And her suit…the suit he bought her…

The vibrating feeling in her head and the light headedness caused her to force her body up as she scoured for a bathroom; taking deep breaths and clenching and unclenching her fists. When she reached the bathroom she closed and locked its door behind her. She dashed for the toilet and vomited, collapsing on her knees. The adrenaline that had been keeping her together had left her body once Sebastian had been taken out of view and she was finally coming down from it. She had stayed with him in the ambulance and helped move his unconscious body onto the stretcher.

She wiped her mouth on the back of her sleeve after flushing the toilet and walked out into the waiting room hallway, sitting quietly against the wall in one of the the cookie cutter red chairs that ran along one side of it. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the wall.

That idiot. That damn idiot. He had known. He had known all along who the murderer was and he had been holding out on her. He had tried to solve the case on his own and withheld information from her after that damn speech of his. She felt anger swelling in her stomach and she gripped tightly onto the fabric of her jacket that came down over her legs. She pulled and twisted at it, trying to find some quiet way of releasing her frustration. Her only regret was that the fabric couldn't express how much it hurt. She desperately wanted it to.

"Naoto, why do you think he withheld information from us?"

"Because he thinks he can do it on his own…"

"We should have a talk with him if he wakes up…"

Naoto hadn't thought of that. What if he didn't wake up? What if that was all there was to this story? That Sebastian wasn't going to recover from his wounds? But he had to. He had Volf. Volf would know what to do. Volf always made things better. Always helped. Told him what to do and how to survive and stay alive. But…what if it wasn't good enough?

She looked down the hallway to the operating room.

"You better make it, Sebastian. Or I'll never forgive you…"

In the operating room, the doctors scrambled to stitch up the holes in his body made from the glass. It looked as though he had slid across the surface of a glass crusher; thick pieces of red and black and clear glass stuck out from the inside of his body, the doctors working in exchange by one doctor removing the glass and another stitching up the hole.

Sebastian convulsed again and one of the doctors leaned in to listen to Sebastian's breathing.

"He has a collapsed lung. Get it open! He can't breathe"

Two of the people in the room began to work on opening it up while another hooked up Sebastian's arm and chest to several machines. His heart rate began to spike and his body convulse as the heart monitor began to beep uncontrollably.

"Sir! He's going into cardiac arrest!"

"Get the defib unit. Now!"

One of the doctors returned with the defibrillator unit and pressed a few buttons, the ping of electricity resounding in the small room as the machine charged. The charging noise was replaced with a beep to indicate it was ready for use.

"Clear!"

The paddles were placed on Sebastian's chest in their respective places and his body jumped as the charge rushed through him. His heartbeat jumped but continued to beet erratically.

"Again"

The machine began to charge once more.

Outside, Naoto felt something was wrong. Stemming from her persona inside her head, she stood from her seat and looked at the door of the operating room. Something was terribly wrong. She could feel Yamato reaching out. Volf was in trouble. And If Volf was in trouble, so was Sebastian. Was he…?

"Sebastian?"

The second charge traveled through Sebastian's body and caused it to jump. This time however, his heart beats stopped and the monitor let out that long flat beep as he flat lined.

Naoto took a few steps towards the door. She felt sick to her stomach again.

"Sebastian?"

Dred washed over her and her hands started to shake and clam up.

"Are...you ok?"

"Volf…"

After a minute, the door opened to one of the doctors stepping out. His hands were red with Sebastian's blood and his mask was off. Naoto approached him, but felt her stomach knot up and lift into her chest when she saw the look in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Detective…"

She didn't want it to happen again. She told herself and promised herself that Souji was the last time; that never again would she put herself on the line. She had done her best to stay away from being close to Sebastian and he had done his best to help her by denying her. But…he had done it. And she had allowed it to happen. He had burned her.

Unlike Souji who had left and never said a word, Sebastian was now gone and had never been given the chance to say a word. She felt her shoulders slump and her face droop to calm and stone. Whatever potential was inside of him for her was now gone. She blamed him. She blamed herself. He could have said something; and she could have let go. But it was too late now. Her watch felt heavy on her wrist.

Back in the surgery room, the sheet had been pulled over Sebastian's face and the doctors were cleaning up from the experience. The sound was off, but Sebastian's heart rate monitor was still on.

"Wake up…"

Sebastian's arm twitched slightly under the sheet. No one noticed as they cleaned up.

"I said wake up!"

There was a convulsion from deep inside his body as though he had been struck by lightning. Several of the doctors jumped by the activity of the body beneath the sheet moving. His heart rate monitor jumped but flat lined again. There was another convulsion and the doctors pulled the sheet back down to look at the man underneath. Holes in his chest were stitched together with thin black thread and blood was caked to his strong bare chest. His body convulsed.

"What's going on? Where is the jolt coming from?"

The voice in Sebastian's head roared and screamed, thrashing about in what blackness there was, fighting it off.

"Wake up, Sebastian!"

There was another convulsion and Sebastian's eyes opened. His back arched for a moment and he took a deep breath as he reached out to grab onto something. Anything. He needed something to anchor himself. He didn't know where he was. He was frightened. Two of the doctors grabbed onto his arms and held them down. A third moved by Sebastian's head, looking down to him.

"Sir, you have had an accident. You're at the hospital. Please stay calm."

The woman looked at another one of the doctors.

"Go get him back in here!"

Sebastian's body convulsed a few more times before he felt the blackness overcoming him again and he passed out, his body going limp on the table again. His monitor beeped steadily, the sound having been turned on, time to time jumping higher or lower; but he was stable. Volf sneered inside his head.

"Good boy…"

Back in the hallway, Naoto had returned to her chair upon the news. There was something empty inside of her. She would be lying if she had said that she wasn't going to miss him. Their introduction to one another had been a rocky start at best but now things were beginning to look up. They were getting closer. She would have to spend Christmas alone again. She was surprised that she had actually been looking forward to Christmas with him.

She looked down at the watch on her wrist. Her eyes traced over the intricacies of the digital face she had installed on it and the buttons she had handpicked for her little project. She unhooked it from her wrist and took it in both her hands. She had taken good care of it over the years. Replaced the battery each year, replaced the screen several times, and even replaced half of the strap. She never took it off. The buttons were stiff from lack of use.

She pressed the button on the upper right corner of the watch to the screen that said 'out of range'. Her anger flared up inside of her and she threw it hard across the room against the opposite wall. The Screen shattered upon impact. She wanted to get up and stomp on it, destroy any trace of the damn things existence. This…chain... that had been on her. A foolish hope she had clung to for two whole years without a word. She cursed in English, the same word Sebastian had used after getting off the phone with one of his superiors. She didn't know what it meant, but it felt good to say it. She felt hot tears run down her still cheeks.

"Doctor!"

The man who had told her of Sebastian's fall turned to face the woman in the doorway. Naoto looked up to the woman, her face stoic and calm even with the tears that ran down her cheeks. She didn't know if she was crying or if Yamato was crying through her.

"We have a pulse"

Naoto looked up to the news, running her sleeve along her eyes as she dried them. He was ok? But…Volf. She felt Yamato scream with glee inside her head. Volf had come through. He had done exactly what he said he would do and kept Sebastian alive for the doctors to help stabilize him. Naoto wasn't sure, but she thought she was smiling.

"I can't keep doing this Yamato. He's going to kill me"

"We can be mad at him later. Let's just be thankful right now…"

"Very well..."

All Naoto could do now was wait. Wait for his surgery to be over and for them to take him to his room. She pulled her phone from her pocket and tried to wipe the blood smear off the screen. No calls, no text messages. Good. She had time to spare. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the wall. All she could do was wait. She gave the watch no mind

Later that evening, she finally awoke and looked around. The red light above the door was off. He had been wheeled out without being informed that his surgery was over. She stood from her seat and took her phone from her pocket to check the time. She had been asleep for two hours. She would need to find his room and check up on him. He had pulled through. That alone was good enough for her. But when he woke up, they needed to have a serious talk.

She walked through the hospital slowly, her legs still shaking slightly and hands in her pockets. As she walked, people that passed by her stared at her. Blood ran up along the side of her face and on both her hands. It had dried on the jacket of her suit and along her legs. She would need to have a shower when she got home but right now didn't care about how she looked or her current state. Blood would come off. She just wanted to check on Sebastian. Make sure he was ok; or at least as ok as he was going to get.

It had taken her fifteen minutes to find the front desk to inquire of his whereabouts. His file claimed he was stable and he had been taken out of intensive care. But he was still in very bad shape. When she found his room, she took a quick glance around before taking hat off and putting it under her arm, letting her ponytail hang down. She closed the door to his room behind her and locked it. She wanted some time alone.

Sebastian had been cleaned up well and no blood was along his arms or face and neck. Bandages were wrapped tightly around his arms and hands to cover the stitches from the multiple holes that had been shut. A large piece of gauze was pressed against his cheek and wrapped around the top of his head. His forehead was wrapped up and his nose was black and purple with a bruise. One of his eyes was swollen to the point that his eyelid was pulled down over it. Sebastian wouldn't be able to use to properly for a few weeks. His breathing was shallow but steady in his unconsciousness. She approached the bed slowly and sat down in one of the chairs, scooting closer to him and taking his bandaged hand in hers.

She lifted up his hospital gown to take a look at his stomach and chest. They too were wrapped with large strips of gauze and medical tape to cover up the wounds in his body. His ribcage was purple and yellow. Broken ribs. She felt her shoulders slump and she lowered his gown, pulling the blankets back over him. He looked like he had been beaten within an inch of his life.

"You bloody idiot…"

She felt the tears running down her cheeks again as she gripped his hand tighter and leaned her head down on his hand.


	24. Chapter 24

Bzzzzz!

Bzzzzz!

Bzzzzz!

Naoto slowly opened her eyes from her sleep to the noise.

Bzzzzz!

She needed to blink a few times to focus her eyes as she looked around

Bzzzzz!

Where was that noise coming from? She looked around the room

Bzzzzz!

How long had she been laying there on the side of his bed? Had she fallen asleep?

Bzzzzz!

She glanced across the hospital room to his pile of bloodied cloths that were in a heap on the chair on the opposite side of his bed. The dull beeps of the heart rate monitor he was hooked up to, though made her upset, made her glad to know he was still stable. At least he wasn't going through the same thing as Nanako had those few years ago during their investigation.

Bzzzzz!

Naoto pried herself up from the bedside and stumbled her way across the room to the chair, her legs a little stiff and numb from the way she had fallen asleep. It was dark outside the hospital room. Looked like rain. No snow yet. How strange.

Bzzzzz!

Naoto fumbled through his jacket and tried to find the source of the buzzing, eventually ending up in his breast pocket. It was his cellphone.

Bzzzzz!

Incoming call: Work

She slid her thumb across the screen to answer and took a deep breath

"Detective Chastity's phone"

"Who is this?"

"This is Detective Naoto Shirogane of the Inaba police department. To whom may I ask am I speaking?"

"This is Alexander LeFleur, Director of Reign-Beaux"

"Detective Chastity's boss?"

"That is correct, Miss Shirogane."

Naoto felt her stomach flip inside of her. Sebastian had been speaking of her"

"Might I ask, detective, why you are answering my agent's phone?"

"Sebastian has just undergone surgery, Mr. LeFleur. I am afraid he cannot answer his phone…"

There was a moment of silence on the other end as she assumed that the director was digesting the multitudinous reasons that Sebastian would have undergone surgery

"Did he do something stupid?"

"He did"

The man sighed

"Damn that boy…"

"Director LeFleur?"

"Yes, Miss Shirogane?"

"If you wish to continue speaking to me in English, would you mind making it easier for me to understand?"

"I will, Miss Shirogane. What happened to him?"

"He met with our murderer. Got hurt. Lots of damage. He's out right now"

"Out…cold? Unconscious?"

"Yes"

"Is he ok?"

"Yes"

"So you are alone right now? On the case?"

"Yes"

"Can you tell me where you are on it?"

"Excuse me?"

The man was trying to make things easy on Shirogane. English was not only not her first but not her second language either. He was trying

"What do you know?"

"Man kills people with persona. Leaves body in Inaba. Does it again"

"So the whole corporation thing was a ruse? A lie? Very clever…"

"Sir?"

"Sorry. Um…ideas from before were wrong?"

"Yes"

"So…what are you going to do?"

"Follow an idea Sebastian had. See if I can get more from others."

"Get more…information?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Could you keep me updated? Sebastian never does unless something big happens"

"I will, Sir"

"Thank you Miss. Shirogane"

"One more thing, please"

"What do you need?"

"Could I…work for you?"

There was another pause on the other side of the phone.

"Has Sebastian talked to you at all about it?"

"No, Sir"

"Finish the case and we will talk about it"

"Thank you, Sir"

"Keep me updated, Miss. Shirogane. Keep Sebastian's phone with you in case I need to call you again. Perhaps next time I will have someone who can speak Japanese"

"Thank you, Sir."

"Have a good evening, Miss Shirogane"

"Have a good morning, Sir"

Naoto hung up the phone and stared down at the screen. It was clean; lacking entirely of scratches or dents or dings. Almost brand new it seemed. She turned it in her hands a few times before slipping it into her breast pocket. She would clean the blood off it at home. She should go home and get a shower.

She looked down at her uniform covered in dark red, almost brown blood. She was a mess.

The murderer had done this to him. Had damaged the man she….no. No she couldn't think like that. But the anger inside of her roiled up and curled around inside of her chest; sweeping through her. She wanted to hurt them. She wanted to climb inside of the shadow world and find him and beat him within an inch of his life. No one gets to do that to her partner. And as far as Yamato was concerned, especially not to the one she loved.

Tonight. She would get some answers tonight. There was still one final question that she wanted answered before she could be satisfied. No. That too was a lie. She wouldn't be satisfied. She had questions she wanted answers from the murderer. She wanted to know why they were doing this. Why were they eating personas? Why target Sebastian and not her? How did they know Sebastian? She would have to ask Sebastian the same question for when he woke up.

In the meantime, she wanted to know how Adachi got out of prison. In order to figure that out, she would need to talk to the individuals who were had been securing the floor of the prison. Was role call never done at the prison to ensure Adachi was still there?

When a prisoner escapes, it's a big deal. He wasn't being marked down as absent during roll call, officers and guards actively ignore the missing inmate... Why was no one bringing this to the public attention that a man like Adachi was on the loose? Even after the police report and media attention of Adachi's body being found, why was no one worried about this missing inmate?

Someone was hiding something. Either no one knew, or people were hiding it.

Naoto glanced over to Sebastian from her spot by the chair. He gave a slight twitch and Naoto found herself walking to him, guided almost instinctively by Yamato's hand as she leaned down and kissed his forehead.

"Take care of him, Volf"

Sebastian's hand twitched slightly behind the gauze and bandages. She took it in hers.

"Thank you for keeping him alive"

She let go of his hand and took the keys to his car from his pocket. She would need to get home. She pulled her ponytail up along the top of her head and slipped her hat back on. As she made her way to the door, she took a final look at Sebastian in the hospital bed. Broken, bandaged, bleeding, and holding on.

As she walked from the hospital, ignoring the stares she received from the nurses and patients and staff, a little thought crawled into her head. If things were as corrupt in the prison as she assumed, she would need help in dealing with the people responsible. She was a semi-capable fighter in herself, but she knew when the odds were stacked against her. She checked her watch. Right; she threw it away. She looked at the clock above the door, feeling a little foolish.

9:23

She pulled her phone from her picket and punched in his phone number. She wasn't going to wait outside for him to arrive. It was too cold. She would just wait in the main lobby for him. The phone rang.

RingRingRing

He would be interested in finding out who was responsible for this

RingRingRing

No one touches his things or the people he cares about without those responsible paying for it

"Hello?"

"Detective Dojima?"

"Shirogane?"

"Yes, Sir"

"I can't imagine why you would be calling me. Is everything ok?"

She was a little hesitant in her response. Sebastian flashed through her mind again and she swallowed hard

"Naoto?"

She took a deep breath

"Things has become complicated in the case, Dojima"

"What happened…?"

His voice which had been caring a moment ago was now stern and serious. Business as usual

"Sebastian has been taken into the hospital. He is damaged and unable to help me in my next step of the case"

"Christ. Is he ok?"

"No, Sir. He is very badly injured. Broken bones and blood loss specifically"

"Well, I can only assume that you need my help then"

"I do. Would you be interested in finding out who let Adachi out?"

There was a pause on the other end before Dojima sighed.

"Now?"

"Right now"

"I…I can't. I have to be here with Nanako"

"I take it you do not want to be involved then?"

"No! No I do want to be involved. I just…can't"

"May I speak with Nanako?"

"I…suppose so. Nanako? Shirogane would like to speak with you"

There was a small squeal of joy in the background before the phone was ripped from Dojima's hand.

"Hi miss Naoto!"

Naoto smiled as she looked at her reflection in the glass of the lobby window.

"Hello little Miss Nanako. Are you enjoying school?"

"Uh-hu! We're learning about Lions right now"

"I like lions"

"I do to. They are big and strong. And they are like, 'rawr!'"

Naoto put her hand to her mouth to prevent herself from giggling. She was such a sweet girl; but business called.

"Nanako, do you remember the nice man you had dinner with last night?"

"Mister Sebastian?"

"Yes. Did you like him?"

"He was mean to cancel dinner before. Dad and I were mad at him. But he made really nice cake so I like him"

"Well Sebastian was hurt this morning and is in the hospital right now. He is hurt rather badly"

"Mister Sebastian is hurt?"

"Indeed. I need your dad to help me for just a little bit, just a few hours, to help me find the man who did it. Is that ok with you?"

"Ummm…"

"I'm sure Mister Sebastian would be very thankful for your help. Might invite you over again for more cake"

There was a moment's pause before-

"Dad! Go help miss Naoto"

It had taken twenty five minutes for Dojima to arrive at the hospital. Naoto had called ahead to her superior to have the staff at the prison know that they were on their way to interview the guards that were in charge the night Adachi disappeared.

Since the media broke the story, the staff and warden had been having a hell of a time explaining to the press how a prisoner could just walk out and no one notice him missing. Interviews had been conducted, but no fruit from the efforts had been found. Stories matched and security cameras were never recorded, only observed. That had been an issue.

At the same time, because no evidence had been found against the three individuals who had been monitoring that particular wing of the prison, no disciplinary actions had been taken. In other words, business as usual. As far as Naoto was concerned, that was wrong.

Quite possibly, the people involved were under watch by the warden and his closest supporters, but Naoto knew that this had been a one shot deal; a one-time thing. She was certain no other persona users were in that prison and so no other events like this would take place.

Eventually, the investigations would be dropped and things would return to normal. No disciplinary actions would be taken, no one lose their job, and no one takes a pay cut or is arrested. Everything would return to normal and the investigation would be white washed; as though it never happened.

Naoto couldn't let that stand

As Naoto walked from the lobby of the hospital, Dojima reached across the open the door for her to get in. only when she sat down, put on her seatbelt, and turned to look at him did he notice the blood.

"What the hell happened to you?"

"Rest assured, Dojima-san, it is not my blood. It belongs to Sebastian"

As they drove they talked. It would take at least an hour and a half to get to their destination. Inaba was not known for having a big prison. Or a prison at all for that matter.

"How is he holding up?"

"He is stable for now. Lacerations are all over his body from glass cuts. He has several broken ribs and a broken nose. He had a collapsed lung and went into cardiac arrest when he was on the operating table. He has had a day"

"Damn it…"

"He is stable; recovering. But he is currently unconscious. Any question I have for him will need to wait"

"Any progress in the case?"

"A substantial amount, Sir"

"Anything you can let me in on?"

"I am unable to give you specifics, sir. However, I can tell you that the murders were targeted. Money was not the motive as was originally speculated."

"Then what was?"

"I'm afraid I cannot tell you, Sir."

"Then what can you tell me?"

"That we are going to find out why those guards let him out and how much they were paid to do it. You may even learn who did it. Or perhaps you may be given an apt description of the one responsible for killing your former partner. That is what you seek, correct? Closure?"

"Adachi was my partner. He may have been a bastard in the end, but no one deserves to be butchered like he was."

"Then perhaps by the end of the night you will get what you seek"

Dojima would like that. Like to be given the chance to know why his former partner had to die. If he couldn't get that, then maybe he could at least understand why these people let him die. What the murderer looked like. And if he was lucky and fortune smiled upon him, he could get to watch the people responsible pay for what they did. They were police officers. They had a duty to serve and protect the public; not their selfish financial interests.

"How…how are you holding up, Shirogane?"

"I'm not, Sir"

"I noticed you don't have your watch on. The one you and Souji shared. Where is it?"

Naoto looked down at her wrist and pulled her sleeve down over it. She did feel odd without it.

"I took it off. The screen broke"

"You could always replace that though"

"I suppose I could do that…"

An uneasy silence settled in within the car. Dojima cleared his throat"

"Do you ever hear anything from Souji, sir?"

"Souji? No. Not lately. I usually only hear things from his mother when they call me or I call them for a check in."

"How...is he doing?"

"He's ok. University. Basketball team captain. Working on his Law degree. Straight A student."

Naoto looked out the window

"Oh. Does he ever call you? Or Nanako?"

"Not for the last few months, no"

"Did…he ever mention me?"

"He did once a few months ago. Asked if you were doing ok. I said yes. That was it though"

Naoto returned to looking out the window, quiet settling in once more.

"Oh, I forgot to mention. The office decided to all pitch in along with Adachi's estate to pay for his funeral. The coroner's report was finished yesterday. Nothing out of the ordinary. We were thinking December 27th. That way Christmas is out of the way and we have time to deal with new years afterward. Can I expect you there?"

A funeral for Adachi. Seemed reasonable. No doubt she would be able to gather the rest of the investigative team together in order to be there to send him off. And Sebastian would be out of the hospital within a week if he woke up.

"You can. Would it be alright if I invited a few people?"

"Of course. You're talking about your friends, right?"

"I am"

"Sure. It will be nice to see you all together in one place again. Chie has been talking about you recently. She misses you around the office"

Naoto smiled a bit before looking back out the window.

"I have some wet-naps in the glove compartment. Get some of that blood off your face"

By the time Naoto arrived at the Prison, the night shift was already well on schedual. Fog had rolled in which made the prison look a little more eerie than it would have in the day. Naoto was a little surprised at what it looked like up close.

In another life in another city she would have spent her entire adult life sending people to a place like this; bad people who deserved it. Every morning waking up to her alarm clock and heading into the field on patrol or during an investigation to send violent, devious, intelligent criminals to a small concrete block where they belonged. Or maybe that was just the idea she had in her head as they passed through the first checkpoint as they drove towards the large building with its many spotlights patrolling the grass and barbed wire fences.

In another life in another city, she would have been just like the protagonists in her stories she had read as a child. Hell, even the stories she read now. In another life in another city she would have been a brilliant mind and been in the newspapers for her work breaking cases through deductions and evidence to put these people away. In another life in another city she would have been in fights to put these people away that put her life on the line and yet no matter how bad the odds were, she would still beat them and come out ahead. She would be the hero of the story and people would read about her.

In another life

In another city

Naoto sat quietly at the wooden desk in the cafeteria with Detective Dojima at the window, looking out at the grass on the lawn. He followed the spotlights as they moved in their random patterns slowly. He couldn't imagine working here. Moving a spotlight around on the grass for hours at a time must have been a hell he couldn't imagine. Naoto took a sip from her cup of coffee she had acquired from the vending machine. She was thankful Dojima had change at the time.

Naoto and Dojima had been stripped of their weaponry upon entering. Dojima hadn't carried his gun with him; but Naoto had been stripped of her revolver and extra ammunition. If things were to go sour, she would be on her own. She took another sip of her coffee. It was awful

When the warden entered the room with two of the men, he called Dojima over to him.

"I have the third man in my office right now. Would you care to interview him while your partner deals with these two?"

Dojima was hesitant as he looked to his partner.

"Will you be ok on your own?"

Naoto paused, awaiting a voice from Yamato who had been rather quiet for the last few hours.

'We will be fine sweetheart'

"I will be fine, Dojima"

The warden approached her, whispering quietly into her ear as he set a small manila folder in front of her.

"The security cameras are on. You should be fine"

"Thank you for the concern, Sir. But I assure you I will be fine"

Dojima and the warden left the room, leaving Naoto and the two guards alone in the cafeteria to talk.

Naoto was quiet as she looked the men up and down as they stared at her. She kept cool and collected. Everything would be fine. The two men sat down at the table opposite her. One couldn't help but stare at the blood on her jacket.

"Are you ok, detective?

"Yea. Shouldn't you go to a hospital or something?"

Naoto stood from her seat and took her jacket off, putting it on the table for the men to see

"This is the blood of my partner. He was attacked almost twelve hours ago by a man who killed seven people; one of which he tortured. I want to know how a man like Tohru Adachi, a man convicted of two grisly murders, just happens to disappear out of his cell while the three of you are on watch. Did he simply walk out the front door?"

"We don't know detective. We keep telling people we don't know"

'He's lying, sweetheart…'

'I know. But I don't know how to prove it'

'Push him further'

"So you are saying that the two of you are incompetent at your jobs then? Did you slip and fall down or fall asleep or were you blinded from a searchlight? How does one simply walk out the front door?"

"We don't know, detective"

"Then let us approach from a different angle. Former detective Adachi's personal effects were missing from storage. So that means that someone gave him his things back; his personal items which are held behind the security desk. The desk that you were scheduled to be behind that night"

"And I was, Sir. There is a record of when I clocked in and out on my time sheet"

Naoto smiled and nodded her head.

"Indeed you were there on time and left at the right time as well. A man who watches the time clock, yes?"

"It's a job isn't it?"

Naoto smiled a little brighter and scratched behind her head.

"I am not sure you are aware of the system you are in charge of guarding behind that booth, Sir. The complexity of a prison system in the twenty first century…"

"What do you mean?"

"You see, in order to open the security gates for entry and exit of your wing, the computer system logs when the door is opened and closed."

"I know that"

"Do you?"

Naoto opened the folder to the sheet of paper inside, reading off the highlighted phrase in middle left side of the page

"One…two…three…four…five…."

She began to count as she looked back up to the man with a small smile as she watched the two of them and their stupid confused faces. She could hear Yamato giggle inside her head and backflip.

"Thirteen…fourteen…fifteen…sixteen…seventeen… Seventeen seconds."

"Pardon?"

"You kept those gates open for seventeen seconds the night Adachi disappeared. Seventeen seconds is a rather long time for a single individual to pass through two doors, don't you think?"

It was the next man's turn to get the pressure put on him

"Hey, I went through those gates as I do every day. Every day for the past three years"

"And in those three years you must have gone through those gates a lot. Correct?"

"Right"

"Well if this is routine for you, then I don't see why it took you seventeen seconds to pass through the gates. Does it always take you seventeen seconds to do so?"

The man opened his mouth to speak but tripped over his own tongue. Naoto put her hands up, leaning back in her chair.

"Then again, maybe you were just busy. Maybe you were just trying to figure out a way to kill time and decided to drag on your trip through the gates. However, if I went back into the computers lock scheduling, would I find this particular seventeen seconds to be a common occurrence? Or would I find it to be more out of the ordinary"

'Threaten him sweetheart'

'With what?'

'The phone'

'The ph-'

Naoto reached inside her breast pocket for her phone, but instead found Sebastian's. She felt a smile crease her lips, her smile reigniting. She unlocked the phone and scrolled through his address book, finding his work number and pressing call. It rang three times.

"Hello, detective Shirogane"

"Hello again, Mr. LaFleur. Do you have a translator I could speak to?"

"Give me one moment to find her, detective"

Naoto put the call on speaker and waited for the woman's voice to come over the line

"Hello?"

"Hello Dective Shirogane. My name is Alisia Roads. How can I help you?"

"Would you be so kind to ask Mr. LaFleur something for me?"

"What can I do for you?"

"Ask him if he is up to date with the findings of former detective Tohru Adachi's body"

….

"He is"

"Good. Is he aware that three individuals are being investigated for releasing the former detective into the hands of the murderer?"

….

"He is"

"Good. Now ask him if he could look into the banking records of the three men to see if any large sums of money had been deposited over the last few days into their accounts"

…

"He can"

"Would he do that for me please?"

"Now?"

"Yes now"

One of the men stood up, his chair moving backwards as he reached for the phone. Naoto picked it up.

"We can do this the hard way or we can do this the easy way. You can either come clean or you can be found out"

The two men were up now having been pushed into a corner and caught. Naoto jumped backwards from her seat, slipping the phone into her pocket of her slacks. She wanted witnesses to hear the commotion as well as see it on the security cameras. She needed to keep moving and ahead of these men. Two on one wasn't fair. She needed to get to the door. But with the two men coming after her she could only move backwards deeper into the cafeteria.

With a man on either side of the table, Naoto couldn't use it as cover. If she was going to move, she needed to move under or over the tables but she certainly couldn't move around. Why was no one coming from security? The warden told her people were watching.

One of the men ran around one side of the table she had ducked behind while the other stayed on the opposite side. She ran around to the free side before ducking under it attempting to dodge the grasps of the other man. It worked and she ran for the door.

A strong hand gripped her by the back of her dress shirt and pulled her back hard literally lifting her off her feet as she was thrown backwards into one of the tables and almost falling backwards over it. The man who hadn't grabbed her charged and she rolled backwards over the table as he grasped for her. Once she landed on the back on the ground, she reached up and delivered a right hook to the man's face in the side of his jaw. He pulled back from the strike.

She had stalled for a bit of time and clambered to her feet as the other man approached with a run. She climbed atop the table and ran across the rows of them trying to use her environment to her advantage. These things would get in the way of those on the ground floor. Chairs, tables, and counters; these things she could use to her advantage if she stayed up.

She hopped from table to table to avoid the man in pursuit until the man she had punched leaned up from the floor and shoved the table she stood on with his shoulder. The shift in balance caused her leg to fall away from under her and she fell forward onto another table landing hard on her chest and cheek. Her head rung as she fell to the ground across a couple of chairs from the fall. She tried to get up quickly but the man she had punched climbed ontop of her and with his strong hands picked her up and threw her down onto the table she fell from.

The impact on her back caused her to gasp for air from the strike having forced the wind to be knocked out of her. Why was there no damn security? The man she had punched pinned her to the table with his weight while the other reached inside her pocket for the phone. He ended the call. She hoped she had enough evidence to help for what came next.

The man she had punched struck her across the cheek as she had done to him. The pain rushed through her head as the strike had caused her to bang the back of her head against the table. He did it again. And again. She felt her legs lose strength and she stopped squirming. She reached up to try and catch the next punch but missed and she was struck again. Yamato's voice screeched out inside of her head and rational thought was replaced with instinct. The instinct to survive and fight back. Sebastian's words returned to her as they sat at their table to the band playing, a glass of wine in their hands as they talked.

"I have Volf. If Volf being an extension of me is true, then I suppose it is fair to say that I am my only friend. But I am a very good friend to have"

"Did he teach you everything you know?"

"Most of what I know. Other things I memorized on my own. But Volf for the most part taught me. And…spin"

"If you listen to the advice your persona offers, they can teach you things. With a persona, you don't have only one brain inside your head."

Naoto felt herself let go internally. She let the screeching voice inside of her head guide her body.

"Until then, I can't make the mistake you, Volf, and Yamato want me to make."

Her left arm came up across the man's chest and she caught her elbow against his right hook. The man pulled his hand back from the strike and tried again. This time, Naoto bent her arm and pointed her elbow, throwing it into the man's hand. She felt two of his fingers break as he struck her elbow. While he pulled back, she used her core muscles to lean up and strike the man in the corner of his eye with her right elbow.

She struck him so hard he slumped down on the floor, his head ringing. It was like watching a boxer drop after a strike; the sudden dead weight motion from hitting something important. One down one to go. The second man was now up to the plate as he tried to strike her from above, her back still pressed against the table. She twisted her arm outward into his wrist, deflecting his punch as he brought it down which caused him to strike the table beside her head.

He pulled back and held his wrist, his hand clenched tightly, afraid he had broken a finger as well. Naoto turned herself on the table now facing the other way on the opposite side. She pushed off and rushed the man.

'He's not going to use the hand you just damaged. Attack from the other side. Twist him. Let me guide your hand'

Naoto followed her orders and rushed him from the left, driving her knee into the man's stomach. It hurt, but not enough to knock him down. He threw a right hook and she ducked under it, the punch going over her right shoulder. Her right arm curled around his neck and shoulder using the man's punch momentum and strength against him as she pulled herself up against his body and grabbed him around the opposite shoulder.

She crouched down and twisted her body, throwing the man off balance and over her now bent knee, throwing him to the ground. She climbed on top of him having thrown all her strength into the throw and causing the man's head to strike against the tile floor. She delivered several strikes to the man's nose and face until the resistance of his hands pushing her off of him and protecting his face had ceased and she was sure he was unconscious.

The other man was now beginning to pull himself up off the floor from her knockout elbow.

'Enough being polite, baby. Extract what you need from him.'

"Understood…"

Naoto climbed off the man and moved one of the tables out of the way to get to him. He threw a groggy punch but she caught his arm and twisted it hard in an arm bar before throwing him down onto the table, his arm twisted and outstretched so the man was on his stomach and face. He yelled in pain, blood running from the side of his eye where she had elbowed him.

'Make him talk'

"First I am going to break your finger"

She pressed her knee into the man's elbow to keep him pinned as she climbed on top of him, one knee in his elbow, the other in his shoulder. She grabbed ahold of his middle finger and twisted it while she yanked back, the finger breaking in her hand. The man yelled and tried to push her off, but her angle and weight at these points with his twisted arm kept him at her mercy

"Tell me what he looked like. What did he pay you?"

"Fuck you!"

She dug her knee into his shoulder which caused him to cry out, his legs kicking behind him.

"What did he pay you?! What did he look like?! I know you had contact!"

'He won't listen. Make him listen'

"Tell me or I'll break your arm!"

The man said nothing even as Naoto grinded her knee harder into his shoulder blade.

"As you wish"

Naoto grabbed ahold of the man's wrist and pulled upward hard as she applied more pressure to his elbow, the arm snapping backwards as she bent it the wrong way. The sound resonated inside of her head and she felt light headed. Almost a little queeze; but she said again as he screamed,

"WHAT DID HE LOOK LIKE?! HOW MUCH DID HE PAY YOU?!"

The man cried out again as she twisted his arm a little more

"Red hair! Space between his teeth! He was a kid! He was just some fucking little kid!"

Naoto twisted his arm a little more. She only hoped he didn't pass out

"How much did he pay you?!"

The man kept quiet again, whimpering quietly

"Tell me or I'll break your shoulder"

The man was quick to respond this time

"Ten thousand! Ten thousand American dollars! Cash!"

'Ask him what he had to do'

"He's had enough Yamato"

'Ask him! Break his shoulder!'

"He's had enough!"

Naoto pulled herself off the whimpering man and he dropped to the floor. He pulled his arm against him and sobbed quietly as he clutched his arm tightly to him, quivering slightly.

What had she done?

She stumbled backwards, tripping over a chair as she moved and landing on her back. She had just broken a man's arm. She had broken it without remorse or second thought. She did what she needed to do to get the information she needed for her case. They were guilty. All three of them.

Naoto stood up slowly on her shaking legs and tried to fight back the tears that wanted to run down her cheek but couldn't hold them. She dried her eyes on her sleeve as she cried. This wasn't like her. This wasn't like her at all. This had been the connection's work. Yamato had told her to do these things and she had done them mercilessly.

She glanced over to the bleeding man on the ground and walked too him, climbing back over top of him. He groaned, conscious once more.

"What did you have to do for the boy with red hair and a space between his teeth?"

The man had a hard time speaking. He turned his head and spat the blood from inside his mouth along with several teeth. His face was mangled. It would take weeks for the swelling to go down.

"We…had to get him…through the gates. That's all."

The man took several deep breaths and choked.

"They came…i…into this room…and…dis…disappeared…I swear…"

Naoto bit the inside of her lip

"I'm sorry I hurt you…"

The man's head fell backwards as he fell unconscious again. Naoto turned his head so he didn't choke on his blood and let it drain onto the floor. She pulled herself off the man and looked around to find her target in the back corner of the room near a couch and a coffee table. The television. They had come in here together, and the boy had taken Adachi through the television into the shadow world.

The door opened to the cafeteria and Dojima halted in the doorway when he surveyed the damage. One man sobbing in the corner to a mangled arm, the other beaten and bleeding on the ground. Naoto turned to face him as he stepped in. The bruising on her face was beginning to show and he took a step inside as she started to shake.

"They let him out…ten thousand American dollars each to let him out…"

She fell to her knees and slumped over, hands on her face. Dojima rushed over, dropping his jacket to the ground and taking her in his arms. She was shaking

"I wanna go home!"

She cried into Dojima's shirt as he held her.

"It's ok, Naoto; I gotcha. I gotcha…"

Whatever she had become, she never wanted to be it again.


	25. Chapter 25

With a shaking hand, Sebastian raised the glass to his mouth and took a small drink of the amber liquid within. He felt like he was falling apart. Something inside of him had changed. It was a terrible feeling; like he was sick or had been damaged in an event. He brought the glass to his forehead and closed his eyes trying to calm his erratic breathing. The condensation of the glass against his skin felt wonderful and awful at the same time. He couldn't calm his breathing, but he could bring it down to a more consistent level. His only hope was that he did not hyperventilate. He breathed in from his nose and out from his mouth slowly, holding his breath from time to time to try and calm down.

What was wrong with him? He was a mess. He leaned back against the leather of his seat and brought the glass away from his face, replacing it with his free hand, rubbing against his eyes and forehead. He took another drink and set the glass on the bar beside him, the glass clinking several times on the bar's surface as his hands continued to shake. He wanted to break down and cry but couldn't find it inside of himself to do it. Maybe if he broke down in tears he could feel a little better. This was a different kind of damage.

He leaned back from his hunched over position and removed his shaking hands from his face as he looked to the two individuals in front of him. The man in front of him simply stared at him beneath folded hands in front of his mouth. There was no smile on his face. The woman to the man's left on the right side of the room was staring as well; her delicate hands folded overtop one another. He always liked the look of her hands. He had always wanted to kiss them. He looked to the man in front of him

"Aren't you supposed to welcome me or something?"

The man said nothing, simply staring

"And aren't you supposed to make some sort of foresight comment? Hm? Tell me w-what I'm d-d-doing wrong?"

He tried to control the stuttering but couldn't help himself. He leaned his head down into his hands; pressing his palms hard into his eyes.

"God, what the fuck is wrong with me? Talk to me damn it!"

They said nothing, waiting.

Eventually Sebastian grabbed ahold of his hair and gave it a few pulls.

"Alright! I'm sorry! I'm sorry I shunned you off before. I'm sorry I didn't take your advice seriously. I'm sorry I was rude to you. I'm sorry!"

The woman smiled slightly with satisfaction as she looked to the man beside her and nodded her head. The man's ear to ear smile stretched upon his face.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room"

"You know, it really pissed me off that you can come to me whenever you feel like it and I have no means of contacting y-you. Fuck. What is wrong with me?"

Margaret glanced to the animal at Sebastian's side, outside of the car. The large beast kneeled down beside the open door as it watched the three of them. Volf knew that Sebastian was having a very hard time right now. He knew that he needed to be there for him should things get worse. Get him out of this car and somewhere safe in his own dreams and thoughts. In Sebastian's current state, he couldn't have him anywhere dangerous that might affect his mind.

"Your body is in a state of shock on the surface. Your fight with the boy has left your mind damaged. Anxiety and fear are still inside of you from another touch of death. No doubt this is due to the fact that this time your attacker has a face whereas the first time was a simple car accident"

"So there is no way of c-calming d-down?"

"Not until you wake up, no"

"Wake up?"

Igor smiled a little wider.

"Do not worry, you are fast asleep; deep in unconsciousness. Your affair with the boy has put you in a permanent dream for the present."

Sebastian leaned back and tried to relax, his hands fiddling with themselves; gripping, squeezing, digging his nails into his skin. Anything to stop himself from shaking. He bit his lower lip, speaking around it.

"How bad is my current physical condition, Margaret?"

"Less than critical and more severe than stable"

Sebastian rocked back and forth as he nodded his head trying to come to grips with all of this. To the outside world it may have been a day, but to him it had been moments. He remembered passing out in Naoto's arms and then there was a blackness before he woke up here. He put his hand to his chest, a small sting of pain spread out across it as he looked to Volf

"You saved my life, didn't you?"

Volf nodded his large head in response. Sebastian scooted over from his spot and wrapped his arms around the large beasts head, squeezing tightly.

"Thank you, my friend."

Volf pushed him back after a moment. He cared for his host, but he was still angry with him. Sebastian had just been through a great ordeal. He was not only physically damaged, but emotionally as well. Only now did he realize how stupid he had been and what he had done. He rubbed at his arm in embarrassment, unable to look his Volf in the face as he spoke. He didn't want to cry.

"I'm sorry I put you through that, Volf. I understand what I did was stupid and rightfully wear the blame. I don't know what I look like on the outside but I am certain I suffered for what I did and I'm sorry for doing it. I should have listened to your advice and just shot him. You were right and I'm sorry. But please don't push me away…"

Volf leaned his large head into the car after a moment and Sebastian held onto him tightly. Volf knew his boy was hurt. Hurt in a way that Sebastian did not fully understand. It would take weeks for him to get back to normal. If not months.

"I'll listen to you next time. I promise"

It was Margaret's turn.

"And perhaps you will listen to us next time as well"

Sebastian nodded his head and brought his face back from Volf, drying his eyes.

"God, I'm such a fucking child right now. I haven't cried from sadness in a long time. I hate it"

Sebastian leaned back in his seat but scooted closer to Volf, holding his large head for comfort like a child would a teddy bear. Volf right now, in Sebastian's compromised state, was his safety blanket.

"Margaret, Igor…What am I dealing with?"

Igor waved his arm over the table in front of him, his small deck of cards materializing upon the blue tablecloth in front of him. With another wave, the cards began to spread out and flip face up, their pictures facing up to Igor's large eyes. The cards spread out on the cloth and set in their square pattern. Igor looked over them before folding his hands under his nose again with a large smile.

'Everyone is in here, Sebastian. Everyone exists within this deck. Margaret exists within it. So do I; as do you. Your partner exists within it, your partner's friends exist within it, and even your parents existed within it. Every being with the capability to have a persona exists within these cards."

Igor's smile disappeared when the next words crossed his lips. It was a strange thing to see. Sebastian was used to seeing Igor with a large smile. This time however he saw only disgust within his eyes.

"That boy…Simon…does not exist within this deck…"

Sebastian clung a little tighter to Volf's head as Igor spoke.

"So...w-what is he t-t-then?"

Margaret's fingernails ran across her books cover as she clenched her fists

"He is an abomination"

Igor raised his hand to Margaret to call for silence and she drew quiet, straightening in her seat and relaxing her hands

"He is something new, Sebastian. Something we have never seen before"

"d-d-don't p-play stupid with me, Igor. Y-you d…didn't answer my question. W-wh-what…WHAT is he?"

Igor removed the center card from the square in front of him and moved it aside. He placed a pointed finger in the empty space

"He is this. The space between the cards and their links."

He placed the card back into the empty spot and began to place cards on top of it, restacking the deck

"A boy with a different kind of creature. It devours other personas and shadows to become a stronger, faster, deadlier monster. It is not a persona however. It is in fact, a Shadow. A shadow that was born within his head. A shadow that taught him how to think and feel and act."

"S-so, like how Volf and I work together?"

"In a sense, Sebastian. However, you developed the beast in a moment of desperation. In that moment, your Volf was created as a failsafe. The ego attempting to break through the depression and anger in order to save and protect itself. As you said, survival is an instinct. Self-preservation is an instinct."

Igor continued to slowly place the cards in the middle, the deck growing bigger.

"Where you and Volf were joined later in your life where you already had your own thoughts and feelings and were developing ways to think and act and decide what sort of person you wanted to be, Matthew was born with his shadow and it immediately began to shape him into what it wanted."

"Matthew?"

"The boys name"

Sebastian slumped back in his seat. Simon's name was Matthew. What a plain name for who he was.

"C-can you tell m-me his last name?"

Igor smiled with a small nod.

"Matthew Demitri"

A name. Finally he could put a name to the face he had in his head.

"Tell m-me about him, Igor…"

"The boy was born to a mother and father fourteen years ago. The father left the mother without a word;sSimply stopped coming home. Mr. Demitri then became the man of the house as he began to grow. Like you, his scholastic achievements grew vast as his shadow helped him through school; cheated for him. Your Volf is a wolf. He knows how to be cunning, how to fight with his claws and teeth; how to be violent. Matthew's shadow is a spider. By nature, spiders are patient, clever and can stay invisible from their prey until it is too late. Anansi is no different."

Igor put the last card onto the top of the deck and leaned back onto his elbows again.

"At one time, it is safe to assume that he was a normal person; Matthew. But years with Anansi in his head, whispering quietly and guiding Matthew's hand, he has become simply an extension of Anansi and her desires. Whatever good there was inside of Matthew was wrapped in web and killed when he was born. Now, there is only a shadow and it's extension."

"S-so how does the p-p….fuck…process w-work?"

"Referring to a persona?"

Sebastian nodded his head and clung a little tighter to Volf. Volf's large arm reached inside the vehicle and drew Sebastian closer, comforting him. He had never seen Sebastian like this. It was frightening and worrisome to the large wolf.

Igor smiled at the question

"A persona is gained when an individual enters this world and is confronted by their shadow. The shadow is a physical representation of one's self but holds all truths to the lies one tells one's self. In turn, when the shadow confronts its host, there is nothing the host can hide from the shadow."

Igor's tone changed to help Sebastian understand the gravity of the situation.

"When a shadow confronts its host with all knowledge of the host, the host is responsible to either reject or accept the shadow. Reject or accept who they really are. Should the host accept the shadow, the shadow is reborn as a persona; a representation of one's ego. A shining truth of one's self. However, should the host reject the shadow; the shadow will become enraged and attempt to kill the host."

"S-so when Simon walks around in the real world…"

"It is no different than an enraged shadow walking in the real world. Matthew is not a man, he is a monster; a shadow in the shape of a man."

Margaret opened the book in her lap.

"As I said; an abomination"

She leaned from her seat and took a seat beside Sebastian to show him the contents of the page; it was his own page. His name was displayed at the top along with the name of Volf.

"You two are the first of a new breed of persona wielder: a wielder that has never, in fact, faced their shadow. Undoubtedly there will be others as time goes on. For now, however, you two remain the only ones. But Matthew is a special case where his shadow was born inside of him in the place of a persona. And then there is you…"

He looked at the page. His name, age, date of birth, sex, eye color, weight, height, Volf's name, and Volf's powers and element type. But the origin of Volf was marked as unknown. Sebastian took note of the line that read:

**Shadow**: Volf

**Persona**: ?

Sebastian reached out and closed the book over Margaret's lap. He glanced up to Volf and buried his face into the beast's maw as he held on tightly.

"T-tell me then, Igor, What am I meant to do? Y-you obviously w-w-want Simon dealt with as m-much as the police do. I can't beat Simon on my own. Or with detective Shirogane even. So what am I meant to do?"

Igor smiled from ear to ear, his eyes nearly bulging out of his head.

"Under normal circumstances, Sebastian, there would be ways of dealing with a problem like Mr. Demitri. However, an extra ordinary circumstance calls for an extra ordinary measure. I believe the best course of action would be for you to aid your partner in her development of her connection with her persona"

Margaret looked stunned as she turned to look at him, returning to her seat quickly

"Master, is that wise? Having Sebastian and Matthew have it is one thing, but to train another individual-"

Igor silenced her with a stare from his wide eyes

"Margaret, please. As you and I both know, Sebastian is more than capable of such a task. He is also the last person we could expect to become something dangerous in the world to the innocent. He may be a monster, but he's a respectable monster"

Sebastian pulled his arms away from Volf and shouted at them

"Stop talking about me like I'm not here! I'm not a monster!"

He pressed his hand against his head as a headache washed over him.

"I'm complicated…"

Sebastian didn't know how he did it, but Igor seemed to smile wider.

"Regardless, if your partner was to be trained how to use the connection with her persona to become a more capable and efficient wielder, I can imagine you two being quite the team against an animal like Mr. Demitri…"

Igor removed his hands from under his nose and sat back in his seat; the arch of his back from who knows how long of sitting leaned over caused him to hunch low even as he tried to straighten his back.

"If he is not stopped by someone capable enough and fast enough then I am afraid there would be almost no stopping him. A shadow with a host at its disposal so readily with the ability to devour and grow stronger with each persona and shadow it consumes will only become a greater threat to this world and its balance. There are powerful shadows in this world that would be perfect to help Anansi develop into something more dangerous than she already is. In this world, Anansi is a force to be reckoned with should Matthew even need her for the plan he hatches. And Mr. Demitri will only become stronger with each persona and shadow Anansi consumes. In this world, Mr. Demitri is a monster. In the real world he is nothing more than a boy. My guess is that if you were to try and hunt him down that you would never be able to catch him without him escaping into this world"

Sebastian considered the possibility. In 2014 there were very few spots to go that had no televisions or screens to jump in and out of this world. Every street corner, every home, every school or mall, and almost every building had a television he could disappear into. Once inside, anyone that had been hunting down the boy would have wondered into the domain of a vastly superior hunter. A losing battle at that.

With Anansi pulling the strings inside the boys head, who was to say that they….she didn't already have an escape plan should her host come into danger? He knew they had an escape plan because **he** had an escape plan. If ever Volf and he were in trouble, they always had a place to escape to. The wonderful thing about this power was the ability to come and go from the shadow world to the real world. Simon could have jumped in and out at random.

If they could have cornered him in the shadow world, Simon had said they had a network to travel all over the shadow world. They could use that network to travel to the farthest corners of the earth and escape. With the influence of a brilliant mind like Anansi's and the cunning of the spider, who was to say he just couldn't escape? The money from the first few murders could keep him fed and sheltered for a little while but eventually he would run out.

Then the murders would happen again. If he continued to kill random people and dump the bodies in Inaba then there would be virtually nothing the government or anyone else could do. If Naoto and her friends entered the shadow world by that point then Anansi would kill them and eat their personas and become stronger. How many would she get in one try? Teddy and Yosuke? Kanji? The future owner of the Amagi inn? That was four in itself. Then Naoto. Five. And himself six.

Or he would drop the bodies in other places all over the world and nothing would come of it. He would become a ghost story; unable to be stopped or found with a sanctuary no one could touch him in. Sebastian did not really see another choice in the matter. If they did not stop him before things escalated then it would only get worse and eventually it would be unstoppable.

"Ok. I'll teach her what I can"

Igor smiled and leaned forward again, folding his crisp gloved hands under his nose.

"Wonderful. I look forward to your progress. Although a force for good and a force for evil are exciting and fun to watch, I wonder how two forces for good will clash against the force of evil"

Sebastian felt his hands start to shake and he scooted back into Volf's head.

"Can I wait outside until I wake up?"

Igor nodded his head and extended his arm. There was the door.

Sebastian slid out from the seat of the car and into Volf's crouched body. The car door shut behind him and pulled off into the swirling mist of the dream world. Volf sat down on the floor of the world and Sebastian curled up against the wolf's body as it wrapped its large arms around it's host. He squeezed Sebastian as he shook and tried to calm him down as he rocked. Sebastian had never seen Volf in such a manner. Even when he had been crushed by the cars of his accident he had never seen Volf be…gentle. That's not who he was. But he assumed that Volf was worried about his host and knew that it was time for Volf to take care of him until he woke up.

Then an idea sparked inside of Sebastian's head.

"Volf, why have I never f-faced m-m…fuck… faced myself?"

The rocking stopped and Volf swallowed hard to the question. Sebastian could feel Volf's powerful heart speed up and the strong arms that were wrapped around him shake. Sebastian looked up into the wolf's bright yellow eyes

"Why did you never try to kill me?"

As the water poured down her body, Naoto finally had a moment to breathe a sigh that caused her legs to get weak. She leaned against the wall and leaned her head down to let the hot water strike the back of her head and neck. She looked down at her feet and at the pink water that ran off her body. She had been under the water for over a half hour now and the blood never seemed to finish coming off of her.

She sighed again and dropped her arms to reach for the soap again. She would give her body another wash over before she would stop and let the blood come off in good time. Three times was enough she had thought, but four washes were getting out of hand. She was almost certain that the cloth she was using was just putting blood back onto her body.

'Are you mad at me, Naoto?'

Naoto was quiet and craned her head up into the shower head as the water hit her face with her eyes closed. She felt her body begin to rock back and forth. She was exhausted.

'Naoto? Sweetheart?'

"Be quiet"

'I don't want you to be mad at me…'

"I said be quiet."

'It's just that you haven't said anything to me since you got home'

"Shut up! Shut up! What the hell were you thinking?"

'I was protecting you!'

"You don't just beat people into unconsciousness. You don't just break people's bones until they tell you what you want! What kind of person does that make me? What kind of persona does that make you?! I don't want to have this with you! I don't want to speak to you or have your voice in my head if that is what I become! Shut up!"

Naoto waited a moment for the silence to set in. it felt wonderful to just be inside of her own head again. She looked at her hands pressed against the wall noticing the bruising on her knuckles and fingers where she had struck the man she had taken to the floor.

It had felt really good to hit those men; to break their bones and their teeth to get what she wanted. As good as it felt, she would never be that again. She would never let her persona act for her like that again. She was not who she had been in those few minutes. What was happening to her? Is this what Sebastian had gone through? Was he even who he used to be anymore? By all logic, who was to say he hadn't been compromised by Volf?

She turned off the water for the shower and stepped out onto the towel on the floor. She could see pink water still dripping off her legs and arms but it wasn't as though she could do anything about it. She took another towel off the wall and began to dry herself off from her legs up.

When she got to her face she winced as she pressed against her cheek and pulled the towel away, gently tapping at her cheek with her fingertips. It ached. She dried off a section of the bathroom mirror and looked at the bruise that had begun to form on her face. Her cheek was dark purple with green and yellow beginning to stretch along the upper section of her face along her eye and the bottom of her jaw. It looked like a very ugly birthmark.

As she made her way back into her room she let the towel drop from her body leaving herself naked as she dried her hair. She pushed what material was on her bed out of the way for her to sit down as she finished drying her body off. Her face began to throb as her body relaxed and reacted to the bruise. She hadn't noticed it until now.

The phone beside her bed began to ring.

**Incoming call**: Work

Naoto swiped her finger across the screen and pressed it against the side of her face. She winced and brought it around to the other side.

"Detective Shirogane speaking"

The woman's voice was sweet as it spoke.

"Hello again, Detective Shirogane, this is Alisia Roads again. Is everything ok?"

She fell back in her bed and sighed

"Everything did not go as I had hoped, Miss Roads, but I did uncover the information I needed for my investigation."

"My superior, Mr. LaFleur, send his regards. Any information you uncover for this investigation makes his life much easier"

"I am glad I could be of assistance. Was the investigation as to why former detective Adachi was released part of his business plan for this investigation?"

"No. But it helps the investigation you and agent Chastity are involved in which **is** part of his 'business plan'"

"I see"

"Reignbeaux would like to thank you for your assistance"

Her phone began to vibrate against her desk and she sighed with a small smile.

"I am afraid I must part with you, Miss Roads. I am being summoned it would seem"

"Of course, Miss Shirogane. If you need our assistance in the case further, please do not hesitate to ask. You have our number after all…"

"Thank you, Miss Roads. We shall speak again soon, I hope"

"Have a good morning Detective Shirogane"

"Have a good night, Miss Roads"

Naoto hung up the phone and reached for her cell.

"Detective Shirogane speaking"

"Detective Shirogane, We are sorry to contact you so late, but your partner, detective Chastity, has woken up. We just thought you should know."

Naoto leaned up in her bed

"He's awake?"

"He is. He asked for you"

Naoto looked over into her closet. She still had her old uniform hung up.

"Ok…ok I'll be right down"

She hung up the phone and pried herself up from the bed. As much as she wanted to just go to sleep, she wanted to see if he was ok more. He was more important to her than sleep. She felt herself hesitate as the idea crossed her mind before she grabbed her uniform and began to lay it out on her bed. What a concept.

It hadent taken Naoto long to get to the hospital this time. Dojima had dropped her off on their way back from the prison and she was able to take Sebastian's car. Technically it was under the control of the Inaba police department and Sebastian was out of commission. It wasn't as though he was going to miss it. She had decided to take it to get around better while he was being looked after. Though right now in the investigation, they had nowhere to go.

When Naoto opened the door to Sebastian's room she had waited until she was inside before she had decided to take her hat off. Sebastian was lying on his side away from the door with his knees drawn up to his chest. He shook quietly. She locked the door.

"Sebastian?"

He didn't answer. As she walked around the bed to look at him, she sighed with a small smile. He was asleep. Good. He needed whatever rest he could get. She reached out to him and ran her fingers through his hair. He seemed to curl up a little more at her touch. Idiot.

Her anger flashed for just a moment before she could push it aside. Whatever he had done could wait for her anger until he was a little better. Her smile hurt the side of her face and she stopped smiling. Instead she put her hands into her pocket and made her way over to the window of his room, looking out over the view. A small spot of white caught her eye. Then another. Then another. Her smile returned. Sunrise was coming quickly and it had started to snow.

The commotion behind her caused her to turn with the small groan that came from Sebastian. She turned and made her way over to the chair beside his bed. His eyes were open. One of them was anyway. The other was too swollen for him to look out of. He groaned again and tried to lean up but she reached out and cupped his bandaged cheek and he lay still again.

"Hey Sebastian…"

Sebastian smiled a little and closed his eyes

"Hi…"

"How are you feeling?"

"My face hurts…"

"It would…"

He tried to turn over but couldn't find it in himself. Instead he gave up and relaxed. His hand reached out for hers and she took it in both of hers.

"How long…was I out?"

"A little more than half a day. Maybe sixteen hours"

Sebastian sighed and curled up a little more, gripping her hand tighter.

"I'm sorry I put you through this."

"As much as scolding you appeals to me, I will wait"

Sebastian nodded his head slightly and only then noticed her bruise. He leaned up abruptly and the pain caused him to grab his chest along his ribs and stomach and lay back down. Naoto stood up to ease him back

"Who…did that?"

"I followed our hunch and went to the prison to confront our guards"

"By yourself?"

"No. Dojima went with me after Nanako gave him permission"

Sebastian smiled a little more than reached up to press against his cheek where the pain was.

"I like him…"

Naoto took his hand again

"You flat lined you know…"

Sebastian felt himself freeze up. He had died

"You went into cardiac arrest on the operating table while they tried to get the glass out of you and stich your wounds up."

Sebastian let go of her hand and brought the back of his arm to his eyes as he cried quietly. He had died. Volf had saved him. Again. It was the only explanation he could think of. He had been so careless and selfish that he had almost died. He **had** died. With a groan, he turned away from her, crying quietly. She rubbed his back.

"Sebastian, I know you have been through a lot, but we need to be able to work together on this. We can't solve this case without each other. And after that little speech you gave me about trust…how am I expected to trust you again?"

Sebastian didn't turn back to look at her as he spoke. He pulled the blanket a little higher over him.

"I'm sorry for keeping this from you Naoto…I didn't want you to get hurt"

"What do you mean?"

"He told me that if I told you anything he would hurt you. Kill you even. I...didn't want to have you hurt. I didn't want to lose you"

Naoto understood finally. And it was a chilling revelation. The damage he had taken. The abuse their killer had done to him.

"He threatened to kill me if you told me anything?"

Naoto took his silence for a yes.

"Is that why you didn't tell me where you were going?"

Sebastian didn't respond again. Instead he reached across to the machine that fed him small amounts of morphine and turned it up a little. He relaxed a little more after a moment and the extra hit his body. His voice was groggy when he turned back around.

"There is a certain amount of pride and confidence that went into me not telling you, yes. There was also a certain amount that kept me from telling you where I was going. I was going to solve the case. Get our murderer. Instead this happened. I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I didn't want you involved. Not wanting you to get hurt came after"

"Was the abuse worth it?"

Sebastian smiled a little

"It was."

Naoto smiled back.

"If you ever keep something like this from me again…"

"I won't. I promise. I'll tell you the truth from now on"

"Do you swear?"

Sebastian nodded his head.

"I swear"

Naoto sighed and leaned back in her chair.

"What can you tell me about our murderer?"

Sebastian smiled a little more and closed his eyes, rolling back over to face her. He looked awful. The morphine was beginning to make him dizzy

"Your pretty face was hurt…"

Naoto felt herself blush but suppressed her voice from shaking.

"What did you learn?"

"He's 14 years old. Has a shadow in his head by the name of Anansi"

"The West African god of stories…"

He nodded slightly and went to speak but Naoto beat him to it.

"Red hair, space between his teeth?"

Sebastian nodded

"How did you know?"

"The guards at the prison told me"

He smiled slightly and shifted his jaw a bit. It wasn't set properly.

"He eats personas and Anansi gets stronger and bigger. So does he."

"Did you get a name?"

"Originally I called him Simon. His name is Matthew Demitri"

Sebastian opened his eyes to her and reached his hand out. She took it in hers and ran her thumb across the back end of his bandaged hand. Naoto took the floor.

"He ties up his victims in the thread of his shadow, has Anansi eat the persona, and then dumps the body in Inaba"

"How did you know?"

Naoto smiled a little

"I'm smart"

Sebastian nodded his head a bit before he grew serious

"I need your help in bringing him down, Naoto."

"Of course"

"I need to teach you how to work with your persona like I do with Volf"

Naoto tried to pull her hand away from his. She succeeded in doing so, but the look on his face when she pulled back made her give her hand back to him

"I can't do that Sebastian. Not after what I did to those guards"

Sebastian smiled a little.

"You hurt them didn't you?"

Naoto nodded

"You know you only have yourself to blame?"

"How so?"

"Your persona is only two years old. Consider her like a child. She doesn't know how to react or act because you haven't trained her; haven't worked with her. So when you lashed out under the influence of your persona, it was because of two reasons. First being that she was trying to protect you, and second because it's all she knows: fighting off attackers with ruthlessness and without mercy."

Naoto didn't like it, but this whole 'connection to her persona' thing was new and confusing to her. She wasn't sure if she should feel guilty for beating those men, angry and herself for it being her fault (apparently), or both. It was difficult.

"Then what do you propose?"

Sebastian scooted a little closer to the edge of his bed and brought her hand close to him, curling his arms around it. She noticed he was shaking; almost a little clingy.

"I need to show you how to fight with your persona; how to be a better wielder of it."

"Did you go through what I did?"

Sebastian nodded

"I told you when I was a kid I was in a lot of fights at school. That was Volf trying to protect me and acting through me. I hurt a lot of kids…"

"Sebastian…are you alright?"

His smile slowly disappeared. Tears began to form in his eyes again and he closed them tightly, curling up to her hand.

"No…"

He felt so foolish. He wanted to curl up and go away. He had risked everything foolishly. Everything that he had been beaten to death for, she had figured it out on her own. She was so much smarter than him. Maybe that's one of the reasons he liked her so much.

"I thought I wouldn't get to see you again after I passed out in your arms…"

Naoto ran her free hand gently along his cheek. He was cold from blood loss and his skin was much more pale than it usually was.

"I'll go get a nurse. See if she can get you something"

As Naoto went to stand up, he held onto her hand tighter, refusing to let go

"No…"

She sighed and sat back down.

"Sebastian, I'll be gone for just a moment. You won't even notice I'm gone"

"No…"

Naoto set her hat down on the nightstand with a sigh.

"OK. But can you let me go for a moment? Move over"

Sebastian hesitantly let go of her hand and Naoto went for his door, unlocking it in case one of the nurses needed to come in. When she returned and slid her feet from her loafers and took her jacket off. He kept faced away from her as she crawled into the bed behind him and draped her jacket over the two of them.

He was shaking from the cold and she slid her arm over him. He took her arm in his and held onto her.

"I was afraid I wouldn't get to see you again, Nao-chan"

Naoto leaned in and kissed the back of his head as she held him.

"I'm here, Sebbie-sama"

She was glad no one was around to hear those words come from her mouth.


	26. Chapter 26

Sebastian, unable to sleep on his side, took almost fifteen minutes to find a comfortable position to sleep in in his current state. With his ribs being broken and his sternum cracked, as much as he enjoyed having Naoto draped across him, found it most suitable for recovery and sleep when he was on his back. It took the pressure off his ribs and chest and applied the pressure to his shoulders. He was truly thankful he hadn't had his shoulder broken. He would have been in much rougher shape.

He fell asleep soon after turning over onto his back. Naoto pressed herself along his side and cradled his head into her neck, careful of his nose and head as she held him. His arms, weak and bandaged, reached up to grab onto her arm which she draped across his chest. As they found a comfortable spot, they said nothing to one another. To the both of them, this wasn't just about getting comfortable before passing out from the days and nights and mornings events. It was something different. Sebastian didn't know how to explain it. It was foreign to him. To Naoto, though what they were doing was rare, was not foreign.

She was so thankful they were alone; if only for the time being. As he slept in her arms, she would occasionally stroke his hair or kiss his forehead. As mad at him as she wanted to be, she couldn't find it in herself to speak out. She wanted to tell him how stupid he had been. To tell him how foolish and selfish his actions had been and how they had led to his current situation. But in the end, he was the only one able to speak what she could not. She was afraid she had lost him; but what did that mean? Afraid she had lost her partner? Her friend? Her lover? Her stranger? What kind of loss was truly what she had feared?

Sebastian murred quietly and leaned his face up into her neck, his lips grazing her skin. She felt herself smile slightly and her arms wrapped a little tighter around him as she closed her eyes.

"Idiot…"

She leaned her head back against his pillow and drew her jacket a little higher to cover him up to his shoulders and up to her chest. Her legs attempted to draw up as they normally did when she went to sleep, but was unable to with Sebastian's form lying next to her. Instead she drew her leg overtop of his, curling herself up to him. They held onto each other for support. Right now, they needed one another. He needed support and care, and she needed to be there for him in his time of need just as she should have been. At the same time, she needed companionship.

She rested her face against the top of his head, falling asleep to the smell of his hair. Through the blood and glass and chemicals and standard issue hospital soap, his smell pushed through all of it and caused her to fall asleep. She held him close to her neck and chest, subconsciously afraid to let go.

The stream of nurses and doctors that came in to view the scene left them alone. Some even decided to be quiet on their approach. They would check Sebastian's chart at the end of his bed or mark down whatever information they needed from the machines he was hooked up to. But in the long run, they left the two alone.

Even Dojima, who had come to see Sebastian when he couldn't get through to Naoto's phone, decided to leave them alone. At first sight he had been a little disappointed in Naoto when he saw her draped across this boy. That was the first impression. The second impression came when he looked at her face. The little smile she wore, the way her arms cradled the broken detective, and the way their hands almost touched. He couldn't blame her for making up her mind. He had decided to leave; come back in a few more hours.

Sebastian woke up first, the pain in his chest having forced him out of slumber. He looked at the clock. They had been out for several hours. The sun was high in the grey sky. Somewhere around noon. No. it was winter. Probably eleven or ten. He shook his head to focus and looked at the clock again. It was 2pm. His constant stream of morphine and lack of sleep was making it hard for him to concentrate or focus even on something as simple as telling the time. This was going to be a difficult recovery.

He craned his head up into the face of Naoto who was still asleep against the pillows. He smiled slightly and with a clench of his teeth, scooted a little closer to her, placing his face into her soft neck. She smelled wonderful; though it hurt to breathe in from his broken nose.

Naoto stirred and slowly opened her eyes. She yawned and looked down to Sebastian looking up to her. She suddenly felt very embarrassed and tried to pull herself away but Sebastian held onto her.

"Don't go"

Naoto felt caught between her instinct to pull away and her want to stay close. She could physically feel herself pulling away from him and yet wanting to stay right there beside him. It was difficult. She willed herself to stay where she was although she pulled her arm away from around Sebastian. Upon realization, she lowered her leg as well.

"How do you feel?"

"Better. Can you help me sit up?"

Naoto slid her arms gently under his as he tried to pull himself up to sit. It took a few minutes on his shaking arms to get himself up, but eventually he managed to sit and rest his back against the thick plastic yellow headboard of his hospital bed. Moving the bed to a sitting position didn't come to mind until after he was already sitting.

"What are we going to do, Naoto?"

He turned to look at her, his bandaged hand reaching for hers again. He was still in rough shape; although after the sleep and comfort she had given him, he seemed a bit more stable. He had been severely shaken from the altercation with Simon. Long lasting effects were to be expected. Perhaps comfort is what he needed most. It wasn't as though Volf could give it to him.

"What do your instincts say?"

Naoto hadn't considered their next move. Did they even have a next move? Sebastian was out of commission until he had recovered. If she took him to the shadow world and summoned Volf, she couldn't imagine what it would do to his body in an already crumpled state. And she couldn't take on Simon on her own. No doubt the spider would destroy her. And her friends…they…could help. But did she really want them to help? Would they be able to?

It had been years since they had used their personas for an actual fight. They would all be out of practice. Kanji was busy with his business deal, Yukiko was busy taking over the business, Chie had a career ahead of her, Teddie and Yosuke were moving on with their lives, and she…she was here. Did she really want to put the lives of her friends in danger?

"My instincts say we are in a bad place right now; a dangerous situation."

"I suppose all we can do is wait for Simon's call"

"Will he call you?"

"He always does…"

As if on command, the phone in Naoto's breast pocket began to ring on Sebastian's lap. He reached down into the jacket to pull his phone out. He would have asked several questions to Naoto as to why she had his phone. But he was almost certain she would have several different answers that would justify it.

**Incoming call: **unknown

Sebastian sighed and showed Naoto the screen

"Speak of the devil…"

Naoto slid her finger across the screen and Sebastian hit the button for speaker phone.

"Hello, Simon"

"Detective Chastity…"

There was frustration in his voice.

"How much harder to I have to hit you to stop your heart?"

Naoto spoke up.

"For the record, Mr. Simon, You did end up killing him"

"Mr. Shirogane, it's good to finally hear your voice. And a little disappointing, Sebastian"

Sebastian glanced to Naoto for a moment and made a mental note.

"Disappointing? How?"

"Well I did give you specific instructions…"

"And the game is over, Simon. You said that if I broke the rules that you would kill me. Well you did that. I lost the game. So the game is over"

"You have a funny logic, Detective Chastity, but I suppose the logic makes sense."

"What do you want, Mr. Simon?"

"Well, Mr. Shirogane, I am calling to say I need a bit of a break from our little adventure"

Naoto looked to Sebastian for a moment before speaking.

"I do not understand what you mean by 'break'"

"Well you see, I am still growing as a person. I still live at home. Christmas is coming quickly and I want to spend time with my mother over the Christmas break. Then shortly after Christmas is New Year's Eve and day. January is quite clean but then we have Valentine's Day in February and there is a girl I want to ask to the school dance. So in order to do that, I need to start forming a relationship with her.

You see, this is a business for me. I kill people who carry a persona inside of them. I offer to kill them for money. Once I find a victim, I have to stalk them. I have to follow them and learn their moves and habits in order to find the perfect time to pull them inside the television and kill them. It takes time and effort. It's my business. This business is very hard to keep alive in itself; especially when I have school and tests and exams and studying. It's only by the grace of god that I haven't just stopped and waited for my academic career to be over. But you see, I have a goal I need to reach and that goal takes time. In short, I'm on vacation"

"Do murderers take vacations, Simon?"

"This one does, Detective Chastity. My business resumes in March. Then, I will kill someone every day for you. I can't imagine the headlines in your town, Mr. Shirogane. The bodies piling in the streets. Retaliation. The army getting involved and the stories. The businesses that will shut down and leave, how desperate people will be to stay away because of superstition. Can you imagine what your town looks like when it's abandoned?"

Naoto felt her hands ball up tightly, her fingernails digging into the skin.

"Damn you…"

Simon chuckled on the other side.

"I will kill someone every day; persona user or not. Unless…"

Sebastian sighed.

"Unless?"

"I get to eat you two"

Naoto and Sebastian exchanged glances.

"If you two come into the shadow world and let me eat your personas, I won't kill the innocent"

"But you will keep killing persona users and shadows, won't you, Simon?"

"Well yes. But you can protect and serve the people by serving yourselves to me"

There was a moment of silence between the three of them. December, January, February. Less than three months to train Naoto to use her Persona like he did. Less than three months to make a full recovery. Was it enough time? It didn't matter even if it wasn't. They were on a tight schedule.

"Very well, ."

Sebastian was a little surprised to hear Naoto answer first.

"March 1st. Same location you attacked Sebastian?"

"Sounds delightful, Mr. Shirogane. I do so enjoy little walks down memory road. See you two on the first. Goodbye Mr. Shirogane, Detective Chastity"

"See you soon, Matthew"

There was a pause of silence before Sebastian hung up the phone with a tap of the red button. He smiled slightly and looked at Naoto.

"How much panic do you think he just experienced when I said his name?"

Naoto smiled and stretched in her spot.

"Tell me, Sebastian, what's our next move?"

Sebastian sighed and let his head fall back against the headboard.

"I need to get out of this bed and start your training. I'll be in here for the next little while so you need to start your training on your own. Every night I want you go to home and talk with Yamato. Learn about her. Her likes and dislikes. If you two have a fight or argument then you need to apologize and reconcile quickly. Your persona is an extension of you and will be used as such. At the same time, Yamato is her own individual. You must learn her. Be her friend rather than her host. And once you have become a friend, you may learn to trust her. Remember, she is a child to you. It will be complicated at times. She is young. Be patient"

He ran his hands along his face as he considered what he really needed to do and the reality came down on him.

"I have to teach you fourteen years of trial and error in three months. I can't imagine how this is going to work…"

"One day at a time I suppose"

And so, time passed…

It took Sebastian fourteen days to be released from the hospital. Within the first four days he was able to force himself up into a sitting position and within seven he was able to get his feet on the floor. By ten he was walking around his room, and by the twelfth day he was walking slowly up and down the hallways of the hospital. While Naoto was at home or at the office updating her superiors with whatever story she had tried to conjure up, Sebastian was wondering the halls of the hospital. His recovering time had been rather quick for six broken ribs and a cracked sternum, but the morphine and other pain killers in his body had allowed him to start rebuilding his muscles that he had been afraid had become soft and stiff from laying in a bed for too long.

On more than one occasion he had been chased by nurses and doctors to stop and rest, but he couldn't stop. Too much was stacked against them and he couldn't train Naoto stuck in this building. He needed to get her and train her with weapon in hand and not just a few homework lessons. He couldn't just send her home with a lesson like "listen to her speak" or "try to feel her inside of you" or something as equally obtuse. He needed to sit down with her and guide her through an event or an outreach.

Four times in the course of his walking did Sebastian have to be stopped by nurses and doctors in order to re-stitch up his wounds; them having opened up from the stress of movement. If he gave himself irreversible damage and turned the small scars he was to receive into large ugly ones, then it would be worth it to ensure that Simon was stopped. His safety and wellbeing was not something he was concerned with. What he needed to do was force the evolution of Naoto and Yamato. The needs of the few did not outweigh the needs of the many.

While Sebastian was walking up and down the halls of the hospital, Naoto had taken time to herself to try and really communicate with her persona. The first night he was awake, she had gone home and left Sebastian in order to have a talk with her persona. The first thing on the agenda was to talk themselves through their previous altercation and reconcile before any more progress could be made.

Naoto was angry at Yamato for her influence and actions, but she also understood why it had been necessary and she was thankful that Yamato had been there to protect and keep her safe. They had to meet in the middle somewhere and they had.

Naoto was a detective. She used her brains and the folly of the one she was trying to catch in order to succeed in a complicated situation. Yamato was a soldier. A warrior who used her speed, cunning, and sword in order to stop their opposition. It was, in every essence, a difficult situation. Brains VS. brawn. But if any progress between the two was to be made, they would have to be able to stand on even ground.

With the understanding out in the open, Naoto had made a deal that she would take up a physical conditioning of some sort to keep Yamato's urge for combat in check and not have it boil over. Every day for one hour, Naoto would go running and improve on her cardio like she had said she would back in October when she would spy on Sebastian. It had been agreed upon by both parties. It was strange having a deal with a voice inside your head that was essentially you. Sebastian had told her not to think too hard on it and she had agreed. It would have been too confusing in itself to make sense.

In return for the physical conditioning, Naoto would sit with Yamato every evening and have Yamato speak about herself. Her favorite color, her favorite weather, the kinds of music she liked and the food she enjoyed that Naoto ate. Naoto found herself, on more than one occasion, ordering more food than was necessary from take-out to quell the hunger she had. She was beginning to develop the hunger that Sebastian experienced with Volf. She understood what it meant to eat for two now. Maybe it was just the jogging that was making her hungrier, but she wasn't so sure.

Naoto was enjoying the company with Yamato more and more as the days went on. At the same time, there were things about her that Naoto found a little strange. Yamato always spoke her mind; she was honest. She had nothing to hide from Naoto when she spoke. Yamato had an honesty that Naoto found concerning. If Yamato was a physical representation of Naoto, then where did the honesty come from? She had spent most of her life trying to be something else and even now still disguised herself as a boy. Perhaps it came from the shadow that Yamato had once been.

Yamato, on the other hand, accepted who she was and was proud to be who and what she was. Naoto was not as honest as Yamato; but at least if Yamato said anything, it would be inside of Naoto's head and not to the ears of the public. She was thankful for that.

When Naoto went to pick Sebastian up from the hospital, he reveled in his complementary wheelchair ride to the door. It was good to see a smile on his face again. His eye was vastly less puffy now and other than being a light purple and green, had reverted back to its original size. His nose was yellow from the tip to the bridge and was still slightly swollen. The damage was deep for swelling to have continued this far into recovery. It would take another week or two for his nose to finish healing. His ribs would take another 3 to four weeks to heal fully. He would have to spend more time in bed to heal; longer mornings and nights. Even then, it would take longer for him to recover.

She had had the suit he had been wearing into the hospital dry cleaned along with her own suit. As he walked down the long ramp towards the pickup zone, it was a strange thing to see him on the move in the suit he had been brought into the hospital wearing. She was still wearing her old uniform. She liked the new suit he had purchased for her, but she still like this one.

She unlocked the passenger door for him as he eased himself down into his seat with a small grunt, carefully strapping himself into his seat.

"First thing is first, we need to go to the shopping district. I need something from your blacksmith"

Naoto was quiet for a moment.

"Everything is fine, Sebastian. Thank you for asking"

Sebastian leaned his head back and closed his eyes

"Sorry. How are you doing?"

Naoto put the car in drive.

"Yamato and I have been making progress. How is your recovery process?"

"My chest and back hurts"

"Did the doctors give you anything to help with the pain?"

"They did."

The car was quiet for a bit as she drove back into town. Sebastian was happy to see it again having spent too long inside the hospital. He wasn't one for staying inside; especially if he was chained there.

"I'm glad to be out…"

"We're glad to have you out"

Sebastian reached over and placed his hand on her leg momentarily, giving it a squeeze.

"Thank you for being there for me, Naoto"

Naoto felt her leg getting heavier on the gas and fought to keep herself concentrated on the road

"No problem"

"Naoto, I mean it"

He rubbed her leg for a moment before returning to his side of the car

"Thank you. It's good to know who I can rely on"

Naoto smiled a little, unsure if it was from Yamato or a genuine smile.

"It is a pleasure, Sebastian"

They didn't need to speak for the rest of the trip as they drove into town. Naoto parked outside the blacksmith shop and helped Sebastian to get his seatbelt off.

"Does the seatbelt hurt?"

She opened her door and went to the other side to open his. He waved her off. He was still stubborn.

"Only when you brake too quickly. Would you mind staying here? I'll only be a moment"

Naoto nodded and stayed by the car as he slowly walked across the street, one of his arms pressing across his chest and along his side as he moved. He didn't have time to feel pain. It wasn't fair that he had to go through this alone. She would need to be there for him over the next coming weeks while his bones healed. She would need to make sure the pride of the Volf did not interfere with his recovery.

'Make sure to keep a tight leash on him'

"Don't say leash around him"

Sebastian returned quickly with a large black satin bag. He carried it in his free hand while the other held himself tightly around the midsection. When he approached he waved her off

"I can do this myself, Naoto"

"Sebastian, you can't-"

"Listen to me-"

Naoto grabbed him by the collar and pushed him against the car

"No. **You** listen. You don't get to make this decision"

Sebastian dropped the satin bag and brought his other arm around his chest. She felt terrible for hurting him, but she couldn't let it show.

"Time is against us. I understand that. But until you can run a mile, hike a mountain, swim a length, whatever it is that you do, you don't get to push me aside and try to do this on your own. I understand that you are out of the hospital, but as far as I'm concerned, you are still the little boy who held on tight and cried his sorrys."

Sebastian didn't want to look at her

"You are in a very weak and damaged state. Just because you are out of the hospital does not mean you are one hundred percent. You are still broken and bruised and damaged. So until that time that you are healed and fully recovered, don't you think for a moment that I will let you play the part of the tough guy. Do you understand?"

Sebastian nodded his head after a moment. She could see the foolish Volf pride and turned his head to face her with both her hands, forcing him to look at her.

"Did you learn nothing from death?"

Sebastian bit his tongue, trying to block out one pain for another; but it wasn't the pain from his ribs.

"Time is against us. So rather than try and prove something to no one, let me help you. I want to help."

A few people had stopped along the street to watch the two of them. Only now did Naoto realize this. Under normal circumstances she would have been embarrassed, but right now she didn't care. This wasn't about them. It was about her and Sebastian. She lowered her hands and he kept his eyes on her. She leaned her head down on his chest. She did not rest the side against it or press against him. It wasn't that kind of moment. She needed to get her point across.

"I don't want to lose you again…"

Sebastian took a moment to gather himself before speaking. She leaned her head up, looking slightly up to him. She lifted the rim of her hat up.

"I'm sorry, Naoto."

"Good…"

"…Can you help me into the car?"

Naoto nodded and opened the door a little wider for him, taking his arm as he sat down with a grunt. She pulled at his seatbelt and handed it to him so he didn't have to turn before she got into the car and continued their drive back to his residence.

When he returned home, he unclipped his seatbelt but couldn't open his door. She opened it for him and helped him from the vehicle. His steps were slow and weak, but he would be ok for walking in the next few days. Until then, she would probably have to stay with him. It made sense to. While he was recovering, he would teach her how to interact with her persona during a battle with a shadow. Win win.

Sebastian stepped into the house and was greeted with the blood trail on the floor. Dark brown streaks ran along the carpet towards the television where his pool was. He stepped inside and braced himself against the wall as he moved, shaking himself free of her. Blood. His blood.

He felt dizzy and started to slide down the wall. Naoto was there to catch him.

"Are you alright…?"

Sebastian just stared at the blood in the carpet.

"How bad did I look?"

"…Awful"

Sebastian turned his head slightly and pressed it into Naoto's neck.

"Thank you for being there. Thank you for coming in to work on the case. Thank you for putting up with me"

Naoto helped him stand and helped him into the kitchen, sitting him down on one of the chairs. He was still so weak. He was having a hard time standing, let alone walking. She took a seat opposite him.

"I need to call someone to have the carpet cleaned. Professionals."

"I can phone some people"

"Get whoever can get here fastest and get this place clean. I have a Christmas dinner to make in a few days."

Naoto smiled.

"Still planning to go through with it?"

"I am"

There was a moment's silence.

"Invite your friends"

"Pardon?"

"Invite your friends over for Christmas dinner. There are a few I haven't met yet. I want to learn about the other wielders in this town. So far they have all been very nice people. I want to meet them. Have the dinner I promised Teddie and Yosuke"

"Are you sure you are up to it in your current condition?"

"No. But I think the two of us are"

Naoto smiled. He was involving her. Good. A good start.

"Naoto, in the bag I brought to the car, there are two bokken swords. The first step of your training will be for you to learn how to fight as your persona"

"Are you speaking from experience?"

"Volf fights with his hands and a sword; although he prefers hand to hand combat. I had to learn to fight with both."

"Then how did Simon hurt you so terribly?"

"He punched me in the nose"

"Therefore…?"

"When you punch someone in the nose, they can't see. Sensory scramble"

"So you want me to learn my persona's fighting style?"

"I want you to learn how to fight with a sword. I want to see you conduct the London symphony orchestra with it"

"I have never handled a sword before"

"With a persona like yours, it doesn't matter"

Sebastian reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a small pill bottle. He opened the top and swallowed one of the small red pills inside.

"Go get them. We can start with your movements being guided through Yamato."


	27. Chapter 27

Naoto gripped her sword tighter in her hand as she tried to stare Sebastian down as he slowly circled her, sizing her up. She could feel Volfs eyes peering out of his as he moved, his own sword gripped tightly in his right hand; the blade pointed behind his body as he moved. He licked his lips and smiled at her as he moved. She grit her teeth.

'Patience sweetheart. Let him make the first move…'

Naoto took a deep breath and twisted her boot a little harder into the snow to get a better footing.

"He's simply another animal…"

'That's right. Patience. This wolf doesn't have as much patience as you would like to think. You have all the tie in the world'

Sebastian crouched down and put one of his hands into the snow, pressing his sword tightly against his leg, the blade following along it down his body.

'He's going to arc the blade up. Defend in the middle and see if you can push him back. Let me help.'

"I can do this"

Sebastian smiled.

"Wrong answer!"

Sebastian rushed Naoto and arced the blade in an upward swing. She twisted her blade to block it, the wood of the two swords knocking hard against one another. She pushed back against his attack but the defense failed when he relaxed his grip on the sword and she fell forward, not expecting him to relax the blade she was forcing her weight against. He reached around her body and grabbed her by the hem of her slacks, pulling her over his extended leg and tripping her, throwing her behind him and into the snow.

Naoto was quick to roll, resetting her stance as he took a few steps from her to let her get back up. She grit her teeth a little harder but did nothing to hide the anger of her failure. She yelled out as she charged him and swung for his shoulder but her blade met with his as he turned and swung his sword to defend against it and knocked her blade away from him. She swung again and again at him, mixing up where she decided to swing from but only met his defense as he parried and guarded against each attack she pushed against him.

She raised her sword into the air and swung down at him, throwing her entire upper body strength into the attack. He spun around her attack and planted the tip of his sword into the snow for balance as he leaned back and struck her in the backside with his boot, shoving for forward into the snow again.

Her anger reached a boiling point and she forced herself to her feet, rushing him again. She swung wildly in her anger trying to hit him but kept having her sword knocked back from his.

"Naoto, stop it"

She ignored his request and pressed forward and swung high, their blades struggling against one another above their heads. She tried to strike him in the chest with her boot but he twisted out of the way and shoved her leg away with his elbow.

"Stop it!"

She forced herself forward and tried to slide one of her legs between his to trip him up but he stepped up over them

'You aren't going to get him like this, Sweetheart'

"Both of you shut up!"

Sebastian brought his sword down hard against hers and hooked his blade around her hilt. He threw his hand up, her sword being wrenched from her hands. Her weapon being tossed aside, he hooked his free arm around her and bent his knees, using his upper body strength to twist her around his body and to the ground. He was on top of her just as quick, both his legs pinning her shoulders down and drawing his sword across her neck.

She struggled below him

"Get off of me!"

"Naoto, stop struggling!"

"Get off!"

Sebastian reached down and gripped a handful of her long hair, pulling her face up as he leaned down, kissing her hard. She was stunned and struggled at first before beginning to calm down and eventually stopped struggling entirely, her eyes closing.

After a moment, Sebastian broke the kiss and looked down at her, planting his sword into the snow as he leaned over her.

"Now then, what are you doing?"

"I'm trying to fight you"

Sebastian shook his head slowly

"No. What you are doing is getting pissed off. You cannot afford to get angry when we go up against Simon. You are thinking too much. Stop trying to think and let it happen. Feel."

"Sebastian, we have been at this for days. Can't we stop for a few hours?"

The two of them had been training consecutively for the past three days. The first day of training, once Sebastian had returned home, was spent with Naoto outside handling her training sword to get a feel for it. Sebastian had put her through several exercises to work her wrists and get her stance down. He modeled it after Yamato's stance; the one she had taken before rushing in to strike down the shadows during their initial encounter.

The second day, Sebastian had taken her through different exercises to get her blocking down when taking strikes from multiple angles or multiple opponents. It was a complete blur to Naoto, having never handled a sword before. Sebastian had given her these exercises and thrown her into the deep end hoping that Yamato would come to her rescue. His hopes, it seemed, were a fleeting dream.

Three days of training for ten hours, breaking only to eat or go to the bathroom was the current regiment. Naoto was making little progress. He kept her pinned under him.

"Why are you shutting Yamato out?"

"I'm not shutting her out"

'Yes you are'

"Yes you are. And I'm sure she doesn't appreciate it. In fact, I'm almost certain she resents it"

Naoto let her head fall to the side

"Naoto…"

She looked back to him as he slid back off her shoulders, now straddling her lap

"…What happened during the prison interviews that made you want to shut out your own persona?"

Naoto let her head fall back into the snow, only now realizing how cold she really was out here.

"Can we stop for a little while?"

"You can have a break for as long as your story is…"

Sebastian slowly pulled himself off of her hips and walked over to the porch, sitting on the end of it. Naoto joined him once she stood up and brushed her clothes off to rid them of the snow.

"When I let Yamato run through me and influence my actions, she hurt those men in a way I would never have done. She sent them both to the hospital."

"What did you do to them?"

"I broke one man's fingers when he wouldn't talk and worked my way up his arm until he told me what I wanted to know. I broke two of his fingers, his elbow, and almost broke his shoulder. Dojima told me that I broke his wrist when he swung a punch at me and struck my elbow."

Sebastian nodded absentmindedly as he stared into the snow.

"So Yamato knows a little hand to hand it would seem… What about the other one?"

"I broke six of his teeth and fractured his jaw. In addition, I broke two of his ribs when I tackled him to the ground. I cannot remember if I broke his nose…"

"Is that why you are afraid of letting go again?"

Naoto was quiet for a moment

"Whatever I became when I hurt those two men, as much as they deserved it, I never want to become again"

Sebastian crossed his legs.

"Naoto…"

She ran her hands along her face as sh attempted to wipe away her exhaustion, still unsure how to feel about what she had done to them, still unsure if she was over it.

"…What you did to those men was justified. It came down between you or them. I don't know what they would have done to you should you have been unable to defend yourself; should you have been unable to let Yamato influence you. But what happened happened."

Sebastian chose his words carefully

"It's difficult for my words to mean anything in a situation like this, but you aren't a monster. You did what you needed to do. You aren't evil or vicious or even a bad person. You did what came naturally for a soldier of your caliber. Isn't that right, Yamato?"

Naoto was too busy hanging off his every word that when the words came from her mouth she became scared.

"That's right"

Naoto cupped both hands over her mouth to stop herself from saying anything more. Sebastian grabbed her wrists and pulled them away.

"You can't keep her locked up inside of you. For a beautiful, all be it violent, moment you became exactly what Volf and I are. You became one with your persona. In turn, you became scared. You had never experienced it before. I can't blame you for being scared. It's a very scary thing to experience."

Naoto gripped the hem of her shirt tightly

"I don't want to hurt anyone…"

"Naoto, you aren't going to run from place to place beating people within an inch of their life. Yamato and you need to form a bond; a mutual understanding. Two beings, one body.

Sebastian brought his hands together in symbolism.

"A symbiosis of human and persona…"

Sebastian stared back into the snow

"A soldier protects the weak. How are you going to be able to protect me when I can't protect myself? If you can't protect me when we go back onto the field, what was the point of me coming back from the dead?"

Naoto looked to him.

"Don't play that card, Sebastian…"

Sebastian stood up slowly, wrapping his arm around his chest, the painkillers beginning to wear off. He took a few steps back into the snow, tugging at the collar of his sweater. He was sweating inside.

"You want to keep me safe, don't you? You want to keep Volf safe, right Yamato?"

Naoto stood back up, moving to retrieve her sword from the snow where they had had their altercation

"Please don't play that card…"

"Then forget me. What about your friends? What about when you come across a shadow you can't beat under normal circumstances? What if it's not as easy as just summoning your persona and letting it kill the shadow? What if your persona needs help from you? Are you just going to let it do all the work while you stand by and watch?"

Naoto picked up her sword from the snow and shook that which clung off the blade, returning to her stance.

"Never be afraid of your persona, Naoto. Your persona is you. It always has been. Yamato won't control you. She won't betray you. But let her guide you. Let her speak for you."

Naoto watched Sebastian crouch down and draw his sword across in front of him, the blade nearly touching the ground. He ground his heels into the snow. Naoto closed her eyes for a moment.

"I'm sorry I turned my back on you, Yamato. You kept me safe in my time of need. You kept me safe during the investigation two years ago... I need you to keep me safe now…"

There was a small giggle inside her head and Naoto smiled with a small giggle as well

'I'll always be here for you, sweetheart'

Naoto's eyes opened when she heard Sebastian's fast steps in the snow approach.

'Put this puppy in his place…'

When Sebastian swung his sword upward, Naoto leaned back, the tip of the wooden blade crossing up between her face and shoulder as she dodged the attack. Naoto felt Yamato's presence run through her body. She felt the gloved hands grip around hers over the grip of her sword as she raised the sword between Sebastian's arms and twisted the blade.

Sebastian's arms crossed over one another and he lost grip on his sword as it fell into the snow with the twist. The speed had caught him off guard and he pulled his arms back. Naoto's leg raised and she pressed her boot into his chest, forcing him back.

Sebastian fell backwards into the snow and Naoto swung down to strike him in the chest. Sebastian rolled backwards onto his front as the wood buried itself into the snow. He was now on all fours as he looked up to her. He had lost his weapon. Damn it. Naoto took her blade into one hand. Her breath was uneasy as she let the presence inside of her guide her actions.

It was scary to feel this being moving inside of her and influencing her movements. Sebastian had told her it was alright to be scared. All she had to do was embrace it. Don't shut it out. Don't you dare shut it out! She felt a smile cross her face as she looked down to him, her free hand retreating behind to the small of her back. She crossed the blade in front of her face before pointing it to Sebastian. Yamato's words came from her mouth.

"Heel…"

Sebastian snarled and stood up. His arms drew up and his fists opened to claws. He twisted his back leg.

"Come and get me, girl…"

Yamato smiled through Naoto as she took several small steps forward. Sebastian took several steps to the side to circumnavigate her, his steps slow and thought out. Naoto needed to make sure that the influence of her persona was not replaced with overconfidence as she moved for him, her free hand now out in front of her to try and block an oncoming attack.

Sebastian ignored her hand and swiped away at the sword as it swung for him, deflecting the blade on its side to strike at the snow. She pushed her chest against his oncoming strike and took the blow striking him in the back of the leg with the back of her blade. His knee having given out, he dropped to it and leaned his head back to dodge her uppercut. Reaching up, he grabbed her sword wrist before sweeping her leg.

Naoto fell onto her back and turned her sword around, blade pointing down. Sebastian climbed on top of her and forced her down with one hand, the other clawed hand raising up for a strike.

"Stay down, girl!"

Naoto smiled at him and looked down to her sword. Sebastian looked down and sighed as he closed his eyes, Naoto tapping the blade of her sword against his upper thigh. Yamato was giddy in her head with how frustrated Volf was inside of Sebastian and she spoke to him again.

"Heel…"

Sebastian's shoulders slumped and he let his arm fall to his side.

"That was wicked! Never seen you move like that Naoto-kun"

Naoto's moment with Sebastian was broken as they looked to the porch, Yosuke and Teddie standing by the open door. Yosuke's arm crossed as he let a small smile run across his face. Teddie watched awestruck.

"Beary cool, Nao-chan!"

Sebastian fell into the snow as Naoto pushed him off of her and rolled onto her knees

"Haven't you two ever heard of knocking?"

"Hey, we did knock! No one answered and the door was unlocked"

Sebastian rolled onto his knees and crossed his arm across his chest with a wince

"Sebastian, are you alright?"

Sebastian nodded to her and stood up slowly.

"Mr. Hanamura, there is a green pill bottle on the table. Mind tossing it to me?"

Yosuke moved into the kitchen quickly when he saw Naoto go to help Sebastian, taking his arm over her and helping him to the porch. He returned quickly with it and handed it to Sebastian who sat down and swallowed two of the pills.

"Thank you…"

"No problem, man. What happened to you?"

"I broke myself. I have a lot to do and not much time to do it in. I don't have the time to feel bad"

"Well, don't push yourself too hard."

Sebastian nodded and reached up for Naoto who helped him to his feet with the aid of Teddie.

"Mr. Hanamura, Teddie, make yourselves comfortable. I need to get out of these wet clothes."

Naoto and Teddie carried him to his room. Teddie left the two of them alone, closing the door behind him and returning to Yosuke.

"He's in rough shape, Yosuke"

"I can't imagine what did it. Maybe we can ask Naoto later."

Sebastian reached down and pulled his shirt up over his head. He was happy he had brought a sweater on this trip. Slowly he forced himself to his feet, Naoto looking at the large ugly scar on his back. Slowly she approached him, hesitating as she reached out to touch it. Sebastian picked up on her movement.

"If you want to, please be gentle with it. It's very sensitive…"

Naoto slowly reached out, pressing her fingers against the soft, thick flesh. He straightened when she touched it and she pulled her fingers from it.

"Did that hurt?"

"No. Your fingers are cold"

Naoto rubbed her hands together for a moment before reaching her hand out to touch the scar. She hadn't seen his scar up close until now, let alone felt it. It was smooth and warm to the touch. Slowly she ran her fingers up and down it, feeling where it connected into the rest of his skin and along his spine, pressing against certain spots. She could literally feel where the scar tissue was between the bones.

"Does it hurt?"

"Every day…"

She took a step closer, leaning down to get a better look at it. Yamato was quiet as Naoto examined the damage that had been done. She could have sworn she heard Yamato whimper.

"What was it like; your accident?"

Sebastian stepped from her, moving for the closet to begin to get dressed. She had struck a nerve and decided to drop it and return to getting ready for dinner.

"It was the single scariest moment of my entire life…"

Naoto dressed in her uniform aside from the large jacket. She kept her bow on at Sebastian's request. Sebastian dressed in one of his suits, his tie chain always part of his attire. She straightened his dark blue tie before they went out, pressing it against his black dress shirt. It felt good to be in warm cloths after training in the cold snow.

When they stepped out, Naoto helped Sebastian into the living room and sat him down on the couch as the doorbell rang. She left him there with Teddie and Yosuke as she went to answer the door. She was hoping his pain killers were going to kick in soon so he could get back to his usual self; even if it was temporary.

Naoto opened the front door and couldn't help but smile as her eyes grazed over the faces of her friends. Chie reached in and wrapped her arms around her friend, squeezing her tightly. Yukiko was next in line with a big hug as she stepped inside the house. Kanji, unable to follow through with such an action, shook Naoto's hand firmly in his.

Chie stood in the doorway with hands on her hips, her green and yellow sweater complimenting her figure; her small ponytail hanging on the back of her head and dipping down into the back of her sweater. She looked good in white jeans.

"So, where's the man who's keeping you away from the office for the last few months?"

Yukiko sat down on the foyer step to take her brown leather boots off.

"I'm eager to see him as well. I brought wine. Kanji has it. Thought it was the least I could do for him for inviting us all over"

Yukiko stood up finally, straightening her red sweater by its black sleeves and black trim. Naoto hadn't seen her in months and was still surprised by the form her legs always seemed to have. Especially now in her black tights. She hung up her thick grey coat.

Kanji closed the door behind him and kicked his boots off. His black jeans were slightly damp from the snow and he handed Naoto the bottle of wine Yukiko had picked out. Red. Sebastian liked red. He pulled off his black beanie and ran his hand through his bleached blond hair. He had a more serious look on his face as he took off his dark purple jacket and hung it up in the closet alongside Yukiko's. He pulled down on his grey sweater. Naoto knew on sight that his mother had made it for him.

"How's he doin', Naoto?"

"He is well. His ribs will take a little longer to heal but his nose is doing well. Sleeping is a bit more difficult for him..."

Chie glanced between the two of them

"What do you mean 'how's he doin'?"

"Ma' had to go to the hospital a few weeks ago to check on one of her prescriptions. Ran into Dojima. He told her, she told me"

"Told you what?"

Their attention was drawn to Sebastian who braced himself against the wall as he approached slowly.

"That I am in rough shape and should be off my feet for the next little while. Good to see you again Kanji… "

"Likewise, Seb"

Sebastian glanced from Chie to Yukiko then back again.

"Officer Chie Satonaka and Miss Yukiko Amagi I presume…"

Sebastian did his best to bow although he struggled on his way down and up again.

"Please don't put too much strain on yourself, Sebastian"

Naoto put his arm around her and helped him into the kitchen, followed by the three of them.

"Geez. What happened to you?"

Sebastian smiled at Chie as he sat down

"I did something stupid and paid dearly for my actions"

Yukiko sat in the seat beside him

"What was the extent of the damage?"

"At the time it was several broken ribs, a broken nose, collapsed lung, dislocated jaw, and multiple lacerations filled with glass. That was before I went into cardiac arrest."

Kanji leaned against the fridge, crossing his arms

"Shit, man. And I thought Naoto getting roughed up by that reaper was a bad day…"

Sebastian smiled at Naoto.

"You never told me that story…"

"When you are willing to tell me about your accident, I'll tell you about mine"

Before the air could grow thick with tension, the timer for the oven went off with a loud 'Ding'

"Dinner is served my friends. Please. Dig in. Naoto, turkey is in the oven, take it out would you? Teddie, would you mind opening the bottle of wine that Miss Amagi brought in? Officer Satonaka, There is a salad in the fridge behind Mr. Tatsumi. Yosuke, would you mind helping me up? I need to go to the bathroom"

Those that had been given an instruction were quick to move to their assigned task. Kanji watched Sebastian limp away to the bathroom with Yosuke's help. His eyes glanced to Naoto who stared intently at Sebastian as he walked off. She had that look in her eye.

Kanji pushed off the fridge when Yukiko tried to open the door. If he was to talk to Sebastian, now would be his chance. He needed to hear the man speak. Keeping out of the way of the movement in the kitchen, he made his way after Yosuke into Sebastian's bedroom.

Yosuke leaned against the wall outside the bathroom, waiting for Sebastian

"What's up, Kanji?"

"The girls said they needed help cutting the turkey in the kitchen. I don't know shit about cooking. Mind giving them a hand? I'll grab Seb when he's done"

"Yea. Sure thing. Between us, those girls still can't cook for shit"

"You're carving up a bird, Yosuke. You can't cook either"

"Shut up, man"

Yosuke bumped the side of his fist against Kanji's shoulder as he walked out. Kanji turned to watch him leave before leaning against the wall, waiting to hear the click of the bathroom door lock, Sebastian stepping out. He was standing a little straighter, but still showed signs of weakness. His painkillers must have been kicking in. Sebastian eyed Kanji.

"Come to finish me off?"

Kanji sneered but shook his head

"You ok?"

"No, Kanji. I'm not ok"

"I need to talk with you…"

"I assumed as much"

Sebastian leaned back against the wall, one of his arms crossing over his chest and holding onto one side of his ribs.

"Shoot"

"I see the way she looks at you"

"And I see the way you look at her…"

Kanji was quiet for a moment before continuing.

"When I first laid eyes on her, I wanted her to be mine. I couldn't gather the courage to ask her myself and I still haven't been able to. Then when I heard that Souji and her were involved with one another, I resented him. He was my senpai, after all. I couldn't hold it against him; he had good taste."

"That he did"

"I never got my chance. I still haven't, ya know? When he disappeared, I felt a little relieved once the feelings of betrayal left. Maybe I could get my shot. But he burned her in a way that she never really got over. I couldn't just walk up and ask her. But then you came along and took my chance…"

"I am not in the middle of a chance, Kanji…"

"But I see the way she looks at you. I know that look. Someone in my position more than anyone knows that look"

Kanji's hands clenched and unclenched a few times before he rubbed them together in thought.

"When I'm saying is…treat her well…"

Sebastian slowly leaned off the door frame to the bathroom and raised his arm for Kanji to help him. Kanji took the arm over his shoulder and helped him as they made their way back into the kitchen.

"Kanji, if something is to come of us and I damage her more than she already is, I want you to break me over your knee. I want you to do it with a smile."

Kanji smiled as they walked out to the others.

"I'll hold you to that, Seb"

Dinner was lively for a change; and a required change it was for both Sebastian and Naoto. Sebastian kept quiet most of the dinner to let the friends catch up with one another from the past several months. He did listen, however. Listen to Chie speak of her practices in her patrols and the new styles of combat she was working and training on. Listen to Yukiko speak of the possible plans to branch out the Amagi inn and expand the business to make it a chain while still maintaining the quality of service of the original. As future owner, she needed to keep the possibility for expansion open.

He listened to Teddie and Yosuke talk of moving up and taking more responsibility at Junes though his father's influence and possibly become white collar rather than blue collar employees. The more responsibility they undertook, the higher their influence could go. In time, they could maybe even run the Inaba branch of the business. And finally, he listened to Kanji explain his hopes for the future with his line of dolls and the options to branch out to other bigger companies should they be successful. Sebastian was thoroughly impressed with Naoto's band of friends.

After dinner, once everyone had finished eating and wine was still being served around the table both Yukiko's bottle and a few Sebastian had purchased, Sebastian popped the question he had been wondering.

"Are all of you persona wielders?"

Yosuke choked on his drink and reached for a napkin as it came from his nose and tears began to well in his eyes. Chie felt her hand start to shake and she dropped her fork onto the ground. The rest of the group was silent as they stared at Sebastian. All, of course, except Naoto, who took a small sip of her glass before she realized everyone was staring. She cleared her throat.

"My apologies everyone. Sebastian is one of us. In a manner of speaking"

The tension washed from everyone's face when she explained. Chie was still stunned.

"You? A persona?"

Sebastian nodded, repeating the question

"Do all of you have one?"

There was a slow round of nods before Sebastian felt Volf's smile crease his face.

"In that case, I have a request of you all"

Sebastian leaned forward in his seat, folding his hands in front of him on the table

"I want you to help me take down the man who has been bringing chaos to your city"

It was Naoto's turn to choke on her drink. She coughed several times before reaching for her own napkin, coughing deeply into it.

"I expect him to try and do something stupid"

"No"

Sebastian ignored Naoto's declaration.

"And in a case where I can't stop him, I need some help"

"Sebastian, no"

Sebastian didn't look to her as he spoke.

"I am not telling them to do anything, Naoto. I'm offering them a chance to help put this case to rest. This is their city too. Isn't that right?"

There was silence at the table as each considered the offer. Yukiko was the first to break the silence.

"So it's no different than the previous case we were all on…"

"Oh no, Miss Amagi; it's much different. It's much more frightening. Before, the only thing that was on the line was your life. This time, it's the lives of complete strangers and the wellbeing of this town. Should this threat be left alone, your town will become a dumping ground for the bodies of the dead…"

Naoto stared daggers into Sebastian hard enough that his chest hurt. He refused to look at her.

"I understand this is a sudden request, but take it to bed with you."

Sebastian looked at the clock.

"It's getting late. Christmas is a time for family, is it not?"

Kanji stood from his spot and went to speak but Sebastian beat him to it.

"Kanji, take it to bed. Think it through. Don't answer right away. Some of you I don't expect to help; if any of you for that matter. It's a dangerous task and there is no point in throwing your lives away at a whim. If you were to answer now I wouldn't think you believed your lives meant anything. "

Kanji closed his mouth, sitting back down.

"Go home. All of you. Christmas is a time for family. Go home to your families. We can discuss this at length at another time. Perhaps some time after New Year's. For now, sleep on it. Sleep on it long and hard because once you commit, I expect you to stay on the side you have chosen. "

Naoto sat with her arms crossed as she stared off into space, stewing in her anger as her friends stood from their spots and made their way for the door. Sebastian stood to see them off, shaking the hands of those who offered and hugging those who got close enough to gently embrace him. The departure was sudden, but none of them considered this being kicked out. Each needed to really consider how far they were willing to go for their town. Each needed to consider what they were willing to give up keeping their home safe.

When the guests were gone, Naoto stood from her seat as Sebastian came back into the room and shoved him against the fridge, pressing herself against him.

"What the hell were you thinking?"

"We can't do this on our own!"

"So you involve my friends?! They could die, Sebastian!"

"I know that! They know that! But what is to happen to us if we go into this on our own?! Hu? We die and then what? Game over!"

Naoto grit her teeth, her hands shaking, so angry she was having trouble seeing; her voice just above a whisper.

"I hate you so much right now…"

She pushed off of him, pushing him against the fridge harder than before. He felt his legs get weak and he slid backwards down the metal as she made her way into the living room to grab her bag, taking it into the bathroom up the stairs. She was afraid that if she started to hit him she would never stop.

She threw her bag down to the floor, practically ripping it open as she rummaged through her things. She hated going to bed angry. She felt her hand freeze when it touched the small black box she had been keeping out of his sight for the last week. Momentarily, her anger subsided and she swallowed hard, slipping it from the darkness inside the bag.

The small black box was wrapped tightly in yellow paper, tied up tightly, carefully, gently, with white ribbon. She sighed and tossed it back into her bag as she rummaged through her things trying to find her medication. When she found it, she pulled up on the tap of the sink and leaned her head under to get a mouthful of water. She pressed down on the tab to break the foil cover behind the pill before popping it into her mouth and swallowing it.

When her eyes closed, she leaned forward into the counter, bracing her head up in her hands. She pulled at her hair slowly.

'Is it really worth throwing your life away?'

"I don't want them hurt…"

'Neither does he, sweetheart. But even with Volf and myself, we can't do this on our own…'

Sebastian's voice was hard to hear through the door and down the stairs, but she heard him speak.

"Naoto…"

He sounded so pathetic down there. She ran her hands across her face. She had kicked the puppy while he was down.

"I…I bought you something for Christmas. If…if you want it…that is…"

Naoto glanced over to her bag again and sighed, reaching down to pick up the present she had wrapped for him. She couldn't be so rough with him

"Yamato, try and keep me from hurting him…"

'I'll do what I can, Love'

Sebastian was sitting quietly on the couch when she came down at last. It was hard to look at him after striking him. He looked so pathetic. It made her feel worse as she sat down in the chair across from the coffee table. Sebastian had a small box in his lap that was poorly wrapped in silver paper. No doubt he had tried to wrap it after his injury. There was a small red bow on top of the box. He set it on the coffee table and slid it towards her.

"Merry Christmas, Miss Shirogane"

Naoto took the box from the table and began to unwrap it. Everyone liked getting gifts and wanted to unwrap them quickly. There was a childlike wonder to a present that needed to be controlled to not look over excited; especially if the gift was to be a letdown.

As she set the paper down on the table, she was greeted with a yellow box the size of a music box. A large crown symbol was etched into the surface; the symbol of the maker of the product. When Naoto opened the box, the silver item inside caused her to shut it and push it onto the table away from her.

"No…"

"Go on…"

Naoto bit her lower lip as her shaking hands grabbed the box again.

"You didn't…"

Sebastian spoke quietly.

"I need my partner to look her best…"

Naoto opened the box again and felt the sting of tears in her eyes as her eyes danced across the details of the watch inside. He had actually gone and bought her such an expensive toy. She pulled the watch from the box and stared down at the face of it. Yachtmaster. Her Rolex.

"Why are you doing this to me, Sebastian?"

His lips felt dry

"It would be a lie to say all that garbage about needing you to look your best as a representation of me. So let me be honest and say that I bought it because you said you really wanted one."

Naoto slowly slid her hand through the band and locked it onto her slender wrist. It was a perfect fit. It looked so nice on her. She took a deep breath, realizing only then she had forgotten to breathe. She stood from her seat and sat down beside him, wrapping her arms around him. He smiled and slid his arms around her, hugging her tightly.

"Thank you, Sebastian. I love it"

"I'm glad you like it. It looks good on you"

Naoto felt a sudden pang of guilt inside of her and pulled her arms back from him.

"I'm sorry I hurt you…"

"I know. But we can reconcile later. What did you get me?"

Naoto hesitated as she looked at her watch.

"I was unaware you were going to get me something so expensive. Or lovely…"

"I am sure, whatever it is, it's just fine…"

Naoto reached over to her chair for the box and handed it to him.

"I'm sorry it's not as nice…"

Sebastian was slow in unwrapping her gift, his body weak from the day. Making dinner, the pain killers to help him move during training, and then being shoved up against a fridge. He had had a long day and the ribbon was giving him a hard time.

"It seems a shame to unwrap this, Naoto. You took your time with it, didn't you?"

Naoto nodded after a moment, still staring down at her watch.

Sebastian opened the small black box to the pair of objects inside, the gleam of steel flashing across his face. Naoto tried to explain.

"When we were on the case together a few years ago, each of us had a means to protect ourselves. Souji had his sword, Yosuke had his kunai, and even Kanji had a folding chair. But you had no means to defend yourself. So I took it into consideration to arm you. It's no Rolex, but…"

Sebastian took one of the leather gloves from the box and took a moment to turn it around in his hands as he examined the quality of the leather. He took the glove in one hand as he slid the other inside. It fit perfectly. The small rings of silver slid around the first knuckles of his fingers as they were pulled into place. He ran his fingers down the back of the leather glove and down to the silver clawed tips at the end of each finger.

"You gave me claws for Christmas…"

Naoto sighed. Her gift was nothing compared to the one he had given her. As much as she wanted it, she began to unhook the watch from her wrist, but the sound of his growl made her stop along with the clicking of metal on metal.

Volf was in his eyes as he curled his fingers and took several small swipes at the air, the sharpened bladed claws at the ends of his fingers sliced through the air quickly. He smiled and chuckled quietly to himself before pulled the glove off his hand and setting it down in the box and closing the lid.

He lifted his hand to her cheek and leaned in close to her, kissing her sweetly. She didn't fight him or hesitate as they pressed into one another. She raised her hand to his cheek, cupping it as she kissed him back. She tasted so lovely as they moved from the couch, their lips still sealed with one another.

As Naoto pushed him back onto his futon, only then did Sebastian understand who between the two of them the superior hunter was. He started to undo the buttons of his shirt as she pulled the bow from her neck and climbed on top of his hips, straddling him. Sebastian grit his teeth when he tried to lean up but was pushed back down as she leaned over and kissed him. Volf snarled in his head before growing quiet.

'I think now is the right time, don't you?'

She hoped…they both hoped… that things would turn out ok for the two of them. Even though, unbeknownst to either of them, two days previously, a silver haired ghost of Inaba had stepped off the last train of the evening.


	28. Chapter 28

Slowly Naoto began to unbutton her dress shirt; her fingers were slow in their work as she fumbled with the fabric. All Sebastian could do was watch, drawn to her movement, soaking her in. He leaned himself up to draw himself closer as she sat on his lap. She smelled wonderful. His arms slid around her body and his hands pressed up against her shoulders as he drew her form against him.

Naoto wasn't sure who was in control of her movements: herself or Yamato; but her fingers finished unbuttoning her shirt and slowly drew themselves through Sebastian's hair before drawing his head against her bandaged chest. She could feel her heart racing in her chest. It had been years since she was this close to another human being, let alone a man. She leaned her head down and drew in his scent, her fingers gripping the back of his shirt tightly as she suppressed a shudder

His arms wrapped tighter around her body as she pressed him against her wrappings. He could hear her heart banging inside her chest. He smiled, a little more reassured. It would seem he wasn't the only one who was nervous. Good. He would hate to be the only one who was nervous.

Although he could have held onto her forever, reveling in one another and the embrace they held, his arms moved first, gripping onto the neckline of her shirt and pulling it back. She lowered her arms from his head to help him remove her first layer as he tossed it aside, the material landing against the wall near the door.

When his lips sealed themselves along the skin of her neck, she brought one of her hands to her mouth to muffle the moan that leapt from her throat. Most of it escaped her fingers before she could catch it. Her other arm wrapped itself around his head again, holding him against her neck.

Sebastian slid his hands down her back to the curvature of her backside, gripping it tightly in his hands as he pulled her closer to him. He felt her tighten up and her hand left her mouth, reaching back and slipping over one of his. She was having trouble keeping up with him. Or was it Volf?

A small growl escaped his lips and she let out another moan as she felt his teeth press into her neck, biting her softly. Her arms fell weakly at her sides and her head hung limply to one side. He smiled. She had melted like butter in his hands and he nipped her gently, a small murr slipping from her lips.

"Get these damn wrappings off of me…"

Sebastian licked the spot he had bitten gently. It was going to leave a small mark. He was glad it would. His hands slid up her backside and along the small of her back to the grey wrappings around her chest, back, and stomach. They were wet. His hands slid along her sides, trying to find where she had pinned or tied them

"They're wet"

"It's from training earlier. They must have absorbed the moisture from the snow"

"You should have taken them off earlier. We can't have you catch cold. I better get them off quickly."

"It would be best if you did…"

Sebastian found the pin along her right side and with a pinch and a twist, unclasped the pin, beginning to unwrap her. He was slow with his work, taking his time.

"Please hurry"

"You can't be too hasty, Naoto. It's like unwrapping a Christmas present. Raise your arms"

She raised her arms above her head, crossing them over one another as the wrapping began to expose her body. She could feel her breasts weighing against the wrappings as they began to loosen. It was embarrassing for her and she tried, nay, wanted desperately to look away from Sebastian; but his look of curiosity and the way his eyes danced across her skin made her refuse to look away.

After a few rounds about, Sebastian was graced with a glimpse of her nipple, the pink nub poking out from betwixt two separate sections of the wrapping. He felt himself hesitate as he stared.

"Stop staring, boy. It's rude."

Naoto's words were replaced with Yamato's as she brought her hands down to either side of Sebastian's face.

"Hurry up and unwrap your gift"

Naoto's face burned so bright that Sebastian could feel the heat. Yamato's confident and sexually dominant presence was presenting itself to Sebastian who obeyed through Volf's influence. Sebastian nodded and began to move a little quicker as he removed the bandages. Naoto felt a small moan escape her lips and she brought one of her hands to her mouth as she spoke.

"I hate being so restricted…"

Sebastian felt his mouth go dry as he tossed the bandages away. Naoto could feel his eyes burning along her skin as they traveled across her breasts and stomach.

"They are larger than I thought they would be…"

"Is…i-is that a problem?"

Sebastian shook his head slowly. They were perfect. Her pale skin looked beautiful as the light gently touched it, arching against the curvature of her breasts. His arms slowly drew across her again as she drew his head into them. Naoto was surprised she had the courage to do it. She felt for sure that Yamato would have done it for her or maybe even taken the next step. But right now, she was the one pulling his head to her, pressing it between her ample and soft breasts.

She drew her fingers through his black hair. It had grown longer since she first met him. His hair was past the in between stage of long and medium and had taken its place in the nuisance stage of in between long tolerable and long intolerable; too short to put it in a ponytail but long enough to get in his way. Still, when she ran her fingers through it, she could feel him relax against her chest. She felt his eyes close as she pet him.

Sebastian breathed deep and slow as she ran her fingers through his hair. His arms relaxed around her but his hands pressed against her to keep her close. He wanted to be as close as he could. Naoto smiled down at him as she pet him, taking a little pleasure in seeing him become putty in her hands. She believed it a fair trade of knowledge about one another: Her neck for his head. She leaned down and kissed his head through his hair.

Sebastian leaned his head back slowly from her chest and looked up to her. The look in his eyes was foreign to her and didn't fall in line with the Sebastian she knew. He was submissive, loyal. She drew her hand back as he leaned his head back down from craning to look up at her. His lips parted and he drew his head close to seal themselves around one of her nipples which stood out for him. She longed for the attention and her body showed it.

As his lips moved to wrap around her nipple, and even though a small shudder ran up her spine as she felt his hot breath on her skin, her hand lashed forward on its own and grabbed Sebastian by his hair along the back of his head, pulling his head back from her body.

"Bad dog…"

Sebastian felt a whimper leave his lips and he brought his hand to his mouth, shocked he had made such a noise. Naoto smiled through the blush, Yamato in control.

"I apologize if pulling your hair hurt you, Sebastian"

"It's ok. It's not just you. Just let it happen"

Naoto pushed Sebastian down onto his back, holding him down with her hands on his chest, careful not to apply too much pressure with his healing ribs.

"Here she is exposed and you haven't even bothered to take your shirt off. What sort of manners are those?"

Sebastian felt the growl escape his lips as he reached up to finish unbuttoning his shirt, but Naoto's hands were there first.

"Let me, Sebastian"

Her voice was quick; embarrassed she was so willing to do it. Sebastian's hands gripped around hers as she started to fiddle with one of the buttons which caused her to freeze and look up to him. His face was calm and he put on a small smile for her.

"It's fine, Naoto."

"I know. I'm ju-"

"Naoto…its fine. Ok?"

Naoto hesitated for a moment but nodded her head as he released her hands and she took a deep breath to calm down. As excited as she wanted to unwrap him, she needed to relax and not rush this.

She unbuttoned the last three buttons of his shirt before opening it up to his chest. There was slight bruising along his sides, but other than that, he looked perfect. His skin was untouched as new fallen snow and she ran her fingers and palms along the muscles of his stomach and chest.

Naoto felt her mouth water and she leaned down, biting one of his pectoral muscles. Sebastian grit his teeth and arched his back into her mouth. Naoto slid her hands around Sebastian's body and held him into her.

"Please just let me have this, Sebastian"

Sebastian showed no sign of stopping her as her teeth pulled themselves from his skin, teeth marks indenting the new fallen snow she craved. She leaned over to the other, biting into his skin again

'That's my girl… Get in there.'

Naoto ignored Yamato's voice in her head with it's small laugh as she tried to calm her erratic breathing. She pulled her teeth from him again and reached down with frantic fingers, trying desperately to unbutton his slacks. She wanted him all to herself. The crave of Yamato and herself was making her mind go blank and give into instinct. Right now instinct told her to eat.

Naoto leaned down to his stomach, her teeth biting along his abs and along the folds of his muscles.

"You taste so good…"

Sebastian leaned up and Naoto practically ripped his shirt off of him as it fell from his shoulders. Her hands gripping onto his shoulders as she indulged in his body. His skin was so soft and warm. And his smell… the smell! She felt her mouth water again as she nipped along the skin above the hem of his slacks, her shaking hands gripping tighter onto him.

How long had she been holding back? Not with him, but just in general? How many years had she held herself back from such actions? Were they hers or Yamato's? She never EVER would have done this with Souji. She would have held back from biting his perfectly sculpted body, the body she had longed for. Even when they had slept together almost three years ago on this very evening she had been reserved and shy. Even as he kissed at her body and ran his fingers along her skin and nibbled at her flesh she would have never acted this way with him. It wasn't in her. It wasn't who she was.

But this man had shown her something about herself. Shown her what had been buried underneath the stories and the false hopes of being a male detective: he had shown her, just as Souji had, that she was a woman. He had treated her with as much respect and honesty as few people had. He had taken a hit for her when they first engaged the shadows a few months ago. However, the woman he had unearthed was not the same woman that she had been during the investigation two years ago. It wasn't even the woman he had met at the train station. He had unearthed a soldier. A fighter. A loyal and brave creature. He had unearthed Yamato from inside of her. He had unearthed who she really was. She now realized this.

The realization was quickly gone however as he reached down and it was her turn to be pulled by her hair. He pulled her up to meet him as she crawled overtop his body and fell limp against him as his teeth sunk themselves into her neck with a growl. She had forgotten for a moment that deep within this man also rested a buried creature; a creature of power and cunning, strength and ferociousness. An animal. She felt her eyes flutter and her eyes roll back in her head. Animals always go for the neck when making a kill.

Sebastian, pulling her by her hair and neck, rolling with her on the futon and onto her back. He climbed on top of her, smiling down at her. She felt her face go red though she dared not turn away from his gaze as she brought her arms up across her chest. Sebastian smiled down at her. Naoto had returned into those eyes of hers.

He leaned himself down onto her, his lips pressing against hers as she moaned quietly into his mouth, her eyes closing. She was delicious. Her hands reached up and pressed against his chest, her fingers able to feel her teeth marks. As much as she had enjoyed giving them to him, she felt just as bad having marked him as such. Then again, she was certain he was going to mark her as well by nights end. She would get over her guilt.

One of his hands pressed down to her hips, his fingers unbuttoning the top of her slacks, his thumb and forefinger reaching down to unzip them. She felt a chill run up her spine and she pressed her hips up into his hand.

She felt disappointment as he pulled from her body, his hands gripping either side of her trousers and slipping them off from around the curvature of her backside and up and off her slender legs which he then set over one of his shoulders. He tossed the clothing aside. His lips pressed against her bare legs and her toes clenched at the touch, her breathing picking up again.

When she pulled her legs from him, he helped her remove her socks, her beautiful body exposed to him in nothing but her underwear, black. Her legs closed and drew up to her chest, covering herself up from him. She wanted to play. He leaned back down on her body, gripping tightly and forcing her legs open around him.

When he pressed himself between her legs, she wrapped them tightly around him, pressing his body against her and her arms wrapping just as tightly. Her heels ran down along his backside, working his pants off. He reached down, helping her get his clothes off, just as eagerly wanting to feel her body wrapped around him.

The feel of her smooth skin on his bare sides was heavenly and he reveled in the feeling of her smooth skin running against his. Every muscle that twitched at his touch or tensed up when it squeezed around him he wanted to touch and explore. She smelled amazing.

Naoto let her head fall to the side, unable to look at him as his hands slid down her legs to her hips and he curled his fingers around the hem of her underwear. Although her body ached to be touched, starving for attention, she couldn't look as he began to pull them from her.

Without permission, her legs came together to help him undress her and she closed her eyes, too embarrassed to look at him. As he slipped them off from around her ankles. Her legs instinctively came together tightly and she turned her body from him, her knees falling to one side. Sebastian, however, was not so easily tamed and pulled her legs back to him, his hands on her knees.

He moved slowly as he wrapped his fingers around them, pulling slightly, watching her face as she held firm.

"Naoto…"

She said nothing, still unable to look at him.

"Please let me inside, Nao-chan"

Naoto closed her eyes tightly after a rather prolonged hesitation. She needed to reassure herself. She needed to come to the understanding that she was certain she wanted to do this. That she was certain everything was going to be alright. As so, slowly, she parted her legs, still hesitant; resisting against Sebastian's hands as he pulled her legs apart. She was exposed to him.

She brought her hand to her mouth, stopping any noise she felt she was going to make as she felt her heart practically leap from her throat with how nervous she was. She felt like she was going to be sick. She bit down on her lower lip trying to relax. But it was all for nothing when she felt his tongue press between her legs and she arched her back, her moan loud and clear even with her hand to her mouth.

Her eyes were now open as she turned to look at him. Sebastian was lying down on his stomach, mouth between her legs, buried deep inside of her. He had his eyes closed and his hot breath made her quiver as it lapped against her. His tongue was stronger than she had imagined it would have been and she felt her body go limp as it dragged itself upward against her clitoris.

The sound that escaped Naoto caused Sebastian to pull back as it escaped her throat. She sounded like she had been punched in the stomach and her legs shook on either side of his face.

"Are you alright?"

Naoto didn't answer at first. Instead she reached down, grabbing a handful of his hair and pushed his mouth back between her legs.

"Get back down there"

Naoto brought her hands to her face, Yamato speaking through her.

"She wants it more than you know"

Sebastian hesitated for a moment before pulling her legs tightly around his shoulders. She squeezed them burying his mouth between her legs. Naoto wasn't sure what to do with her hands. Was she to run them through his hair? Keep them on her face? Cover her mouth so Yamato could say nothing more? Instead they moved for her breasts, squeezing them tightly as Yamato indulged instead.

Sebastian took particular interest in watching Naoto. It was truly a spectacle. Naoto, he had assumed correctly, was a shy and reserved person. She kept her true desires and wants tucked far away in the back of her mind. She suppressed them and would never voice them, let alone act on them. Yamato on the other hand was a much more open and unafraid being. More dominating and, especially in a situation like this, much more sexually aggressive. She knew what she wanted and was going to take it.

Volf was the shy and reserved one. Sure he was a monster and a beast on the battlefield, but here in the darkness and confinements of these four walls with Yamato, he was no different than Naoto. Sebastian was the polar opposite of that. Dominant. Aggressive. Neither Sebastian nor Naoto truly knew who was on top. It seemed that control was being bounced between them.

Naoto felt her hips buck up and she let out a long groan as his tongue pierced her and wriggled its way inside of her. She bit down on her hand to stop herself from being too loud, fighting to keep it there. Yamato moved Naoto's other hand to Sebastian's head, pulling him tighter against her. Naoto let out a small squeal as he growled inside of her, the vibrations of his throat stimulating her.

Naoto tried to speak but could only let out small moans when she opened her mouth. She held on desperately to his head as he teased her body, his tongue gliding along her folds and lapping at their tip against her button.

"I…I can't-"

His lips parted from her and traveled upwards, sealing themselves around her button and began to suck on it, his tongue flicking and rubbing against what was inside his mouth. Her hips bucked upward into his mouth and he welcomed it as her hand gripped tightly on his hair, pulling at it. He savored her.

Yamato was able to pull Naoto's hand from her mouth and place it on the back of his head, pulling him tightly between her legs. She wasn't going to let Naoto fight this off; not after this long without contact. Naoto tried to keep herself quiet but only ended up failing miserably in the end as her lips parted and she began to cry out. She tried biting the pillow but Yamato's influence with Sebastian's teasing made it almost impossible to do anything but bend to their desires.

Her breathing was quick and her voice was like music to his ears as he toyed with her. As her legs quivered along either side of his face and her fingers released his hair only to pull him near the base of his neck into her, he couldn't help but feel Volf growl with satisfaction and in turn smiled as he looked up to the writhing beauty above him.

Naoto's orgasm, appropriately enough, pierced her body like lightning and caused her whole body to tighten. Her hips pushed into his mouth and before she could moan, Yamato spoke for her; the voice gruff and tense.

"Don't you dare stop!"

Sebastian wouldn't have dreamed of it as he gorged himself on her, his tongue doing things to her she could never have imagined. She had never done this with Souji. There had been very little foreplay between the two of them.

But now, with his head between her legs, her possessed hands kept his head there as she rode out the orgasm, her chest heaving and her mouth parting to scream. No noise came from her throat however and she shook her head from side to side as she clamped her jaw shut, her hips falling dead against the bed, her hands falling to her sides.

Sebastian leaned up from his stomach and rolled his head around to stretch out his neck. His lips parted, Volf having a turn at influence.

"You had your fun. Let them have one now…"

Naoto didn't speak as she laid there with her eyes half closed, a glazed look in them as her hips and stomach twitched with the aftershock of the orgasm. How long had she been holding it? She couldn't remember the last time she had released such a hunger.

Slowly, her eyes began to focus again and she blinked several times before shaking her head of the fog. She turned her head slowly to Sebastian who had climbed off of her. She watched as her partner removed his black boxer briefs and now stood naked in front of her. She promised herself that she wouldn't make a comparison between Souji and Sebastian. That no matter what transpired between the two that she wouldn't make judgments on either of them. But even now as he was naked before her, she found it hard not for the little inkling in the back of her head to get the best of her and start her list.

Sebastian kneeled down on the futon and crawled his way up to her. Slowly she turned from her side onto her back. She smiled up at him with a small giggle as he crawled atop her and she wrapped her slender legs around his body.

"You seem happy, Shirogane"

She reached up and pulled his head down to her, kissing him and pulling him against her with her legs.

"Don't ruin the moment, Chastity"

Sebastian kissed her back, leaning his body down onto his elbows and curled his arms around her shoulders, holding her. She was delightful. He wasn't expecting it to be so much fun. Slowly he was pulling her from her shell. That was good. It was important to him that she was comfortable.

"Is everything ok, Naoto?"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm just making sure you are enjoying yourself. It's important."

"I am, Sebastian. It's simply that…it's…been a long time…"

"I understand"

Sebastian pressed his hips against hers, his length resting against her puffy pink folds. She moaned quietly inside his mouth as he growled. He wasn't expecting it to be this warm. He opened his mouth and slipped his tongue inside of hers, her teeth parting to make room as his tongue invaded her mouth and pressed down on hers. Her tongue fought back against his, pushing back against him.

As he toyed with her mouth, his hips began to grind up against her, his length sliding betwixt her legs. It was difficult to grind his hips efficiently with her legs wrapped around him, especially while he was hunched over. He pulled himself back from the kiss and her legs fell to her sides as he leaned back, sliding his hands along her legs down to her ankles.

He wrapped his arms around her legs, hoisting them up near his shoulders as he slid the entirety of his length between her legs, grinding against her. Her previous orgasm aided in his lubrication as he started to tease her body again. Naoto let out a moan and covered her mouth again only to have Sebastian pull her arm away from her mouth. The last thing he wanted was for her to be shy.

Naoto quivered as he pressed the tip against her, gently rocking his hips.

"Ready?"

Naoto went to speak but closed her mouth, acknowledging with a simple nod. So Sebastian slipped inside of her.

As he entered and he was welcomed with several waves of clenching, he shivered as he slid deeper within her body. He felt his core get weak and he fell forward, catching himself on his hands on either side of her head. He reveled in her facial expression as she gaped and her eyes rolled back into her head, her eyelids falling halfway closed. She brought her hand to her mouth and moaned silently through her open fingers, her head falling to one side.

Sebastian slid deeper as Naoto raised her hips, bucking accidently up against his body. Naoto moaned and reached down, pressing her hand against his stomach and watching as he pushed the last inch or so into her, his hips pressing against hers.

"Oh wow…"

Naoto smiled at his little realization and groaned as she instinctively squeezed around him, a little of Yamato coming out of her words.

"Feel good?"

Sebastian nodded and slowly began to retract himself from inside of her before pushing himself back in. she was magnificent. Sebastian began to go to work, his hips slowly working himself in and out of her body, quivering slightly every so often.

As much as Naoto was reveling in this, she couldn't help but take pleasure in watching him openly shake as he moved his hips. Occasionally she would clench up tightly around him when he would pull out or push inside which would cause him to stop momentarily and either moan when pushing in or shake pulling out.

When Sebastian increased his tempo, Naoto reached up to pull him down to her, embracing him in her arms and kissing him hard. She drank the moans he projected into her mouth and granted him several in return. She could see the appeal of Yamato wanting to dominate him: it was fun.

"Harder"

Sebastian obliged and obeyed, thrusting his hips harder inside of her. Her arms wrapped tightly around his neck, groaning out into his ear as he bucked his hips into her. She raised her hips higher into him, lifting her legs up to allow him easier access and running her knees along his sides. She was gentle with his ribs even when she pressed them inward when he slid against the right spot.

She could feel him throbbing inside of her, his length red hot and burning her. She welcomed the heat and pressed her heels into his backside to help him thrust harder. Sebastian picked up his speed a little more.

"Naoto, I-I don't-"

Yamato spoke through her, but Sebastian knew that little smile was all Naoto as she welcomed the words of her persona to come through her.

"Hold out a little longer"

Sebastian never stopped thrusting his hips but he hesitated before nodding his head. He could keep this up a little longer. Naoto groaned and placed one of her hands on his shoulder, the other staying against his stomach; wanting to feel the curvature of his abdominals.

"Please go faster…"

Sebastian sighed with a moan and sped up his thrusting, his hips almost slapping against hers as he took her. Or was she taking him? He wasn't sure. What he was sure of was that he wasn't going to be able to hold on much longer. He refused to ruin this for the two of them. He refused to be the one to ruin what had been several months in the making. So he did what any rational person in this situation would: went faster.

Naoto clenched her teeth together, stifling a deep moan as he picked up both in speed and power as he pushed inside of her. In turn she clenched tightly around him, her voice and breaths quivering with his movements; her moans in sequence with his thrusts.

"Keep going, Sebastian. I'm almost there."

Sebastian internally pulled back, trying to prevent himself from finishing until she was in mid orgasm but it was proving harder and harder with every thrust.

"Naoto, I can't. I'm going to-"

Sebastian tried to pull back and out from her, but just before Naoto could reach her orgasm, Yamato spoke through her and wrapped her legs tightly around Sebastian, burying him deep inside of her. Naoto groaned and her back arched as his tip kissed her deepest areas.

"Don't you dare pull out!"

Sebastian Felt Naoto's orgasm hit which caused tightly clenching and waves of pressure to wash along his length. As he came, his arms gave way and he fell onto his elbows, moaning into Naoto's ear. The sounds and the heat now spattering inside of her as he came caused her to almost scream as she held onto him tightly, her body refusing to let go as she trembled around his length and over his body.

Their conjoined orgasm lasted several moments and the two of them refused to move when it was over. Naoto couldn't take the feeling of him leaving her insides and Sebastian didn't know if he could handle the sensitivity of pulling out. He knew he needed to, however.

Sebastian, out of breath, slowly leaned up on his shaking arms and began to pull his hips from her. Naoto somehow found the strength inside her to keep her legs wrapped around him.

"Not yet…"

"Naoto, I need to pull out"

"Not yet. Would it be a bother to ask you stay inside a little longer? Please?"

Sebastian was hesitant

"I'm on birth control…"

"Since when?"

"Almost two weeks"

Sebastian leaned back down and Naoto relaxed her legs around him. She kept him close however.

"Did you know this was going to happen?"

"I did not. I did have an idea that it would transpire. Yamato told me to expect it"

Sebastian relaxed a little and kissed her gently. Her hands ran up along his back and into his hair

"I am assuming Volf told her something?"

Naoto smiled

"I cannot confirm or deny such a claim"

Sebastian stayed with her, enjoying the feelings of her legs along his sides once more, taking his time with her as he kissed her pretty lips and her slender neck. Naoto kept her hands where they were as he traveled, her persona instincts telling her to keep them along his hair and back.

After a few minutes, Naoto gave Sebastian the go ahead to pull out which he did with a small sigh. Naoto waited for him to lay down on his back before she scooted over to him. Sebastian put his arm around her and pulled her against him, his hand traveling down to the small of her back, his fingers tracing small designs in her skin and along her spine; enjoying the feelings of her bones.

"Adachi's funeral is on the 27th. I would appreciate you coming with me to the event. That is if it's not too much trouble, of course."

Sebastian leaned her chin up with his free hand and kissed her, Naoto's fingers coming up to cup his cheek with her fingertips.

"I would be delighted. You seem awfully affectionate right now."

Naoto leaned her head into his chest, averting eye contact

"I don't know what it is with me, Sebastian. We just engaged in an act that, although I am foreign to on a day to day basis, should be celebrated afterwards. Normal people kiss and hold one another and hold hands and enjoy simply being in the presence of someone they care for. I….have a hard time doing that"

"It's not in your character you mean…"

"Sorry…"

"Don't be sorry. I wouldn't have it any other way than for you to be yourself. If you would like me to move away, maybe go into the living room-"

"No!"

Naoto sighed and brought one of her arms slowly over his chest, pulling her against him.

"I mean…I like it like this"

"Can I hold you? Would you like that?"

Naoto was quiet for a moment before,

"I would…"

Sebastian smiled and drew her closer, his hand trailing down her back to her backside, running his fingertips up and down along her skin. He could feel her goosebumps.

"Would you…like to go to the shrine with me tomorrow, Sebastian?"

"I'm not a very religious person, Naoto"

"Oh…it's ok."

"I didn't say no. Would you like me to?"

"…I would"

Sebastian leaned his head back against the pillows and closed his eyes with a quiet yawn. He was exhausted.

"Sebastian?"

He spoke, eyes closed, pulling one of her legs over his to entwine them

"Yes, Shirogane?"

"Did we make a mistake? With this?"

"Perhaps… but let's save this conversation for another time, shall we? Let's end the night on a positive note. Go to sleep."

Naoto didn't know if she could sleep. She hadn't considered the ramifications of her actions. She closed her eyes and relaxed against his chest, listening to him breathe and his heartbeat. But as soothing as they were, she wasn't certain she was going to be able to fall asleep.

That was before the sun started to shine on her face through the snow covered window the next morning.


	29. Chapter 29

Sebastian felt awkward. He wasn't sure at the time if it was the box of fortunes to his left or the large stone statue of the lion to his right. At least he assumed it was a lion. But when he looked over to Naoto, hands pressed together in prayer, eyes closed, and head down, he was…uncomfortable…to be just standing there doing nothing.

'What am I supposed to do, Volf?'

'Religion is something I cannot understand about humans, Sebastian. Play along.'

Sebastian glanced around at the few other people at the shrine. He was getting a few stares, obviously being a foreigner.

In his short time on earth, and in his even shorter time in the shadow world and with Reign-beaux, Sebastian was certain of at least one thing: God was dead. Or perhaps God was gone. Or perhaps God was angry. Or perhaps he wasn't sure of the one thing he was sure about. But he couldn't see a god, the god or gods Naoto was praying to, being the kind of person or people to create a world of shadows accessible only by humans through a television. He was unsure if Animals could pass through the screens and become a persona wielder.

The idea of a cat or dog or a fox perhaps, running through the shadow world summoning a persona made him smile and he suppressed a chuckle.

The morning had gone rather smoothly once Naoto had woken up. Sebastian had been up at least an hour before her and had enjoyed the time he could spend with her while she was asleep. He had slipped his arm around her and pulled her body back against his under the blankets. Surprisingly, even with the sweet nothing kisses he had placed on her shoulder and the back of her neck, Naoto had not awoken. She had slept straight through them.

When she had finally awoken, the first thing she had done was attempt to practically leap out of bed in confusion as to where she was and what was going on. Sebastian had kept a firm grip around her body, refusing to let go.

"No no, Shirogane. You don't get to do that with me"

Naoto, after a small moment of asking to be released, had settled for pulling the blankets over her head to hide herself from him. After a few minutes like that, Sebastian had removed his arm from around her, only to have her turn over and curl up against his side. He had pulled the covers over his head to join her.

"Good morning, Shirogane"

Naoto had responded with a small groan and tucked in closer to him. When Sebastian wrapped his arm around her again, Naoto's legs uncurled and she pressed her body against him, her fingers starting at his shoulders, began to move downward, touching his muscles and along his curves. She remembered how surreal it was when she had gone to bed and imagined Souji touching her and running his fingers along her body. Now, it seemed, it was Sebastian's turn. She was much less hesitant than she would have assumed she would have been.

Christmas was a lazy day. But at least for the next hour or so it would be a warm and affectionate one. If Sebastian had to pull her from her shell himself, he would. He would drag her kicking and screaming.

That was three hours ago. He could have spent the entire day curled up with this beautiful woman in bed. Still, he had said he would go to her to the shrine and he intended to stick to his word. That was the kind of person he was.

As he stood there however, glancing about at the people with their heads down and hands folded, he began to wonder if he was just overthinking the idea. There may have been no god or gods, but there were certainly monsters. More than monsters, there were those who defeated monsters and others that did so to protect the ones they cared about.

He had seen these brave creatures. He had one growing inside of him right now. He had made love to one the night previous. Perhaps there was something to pray to after all. He promised himself to begin to show a little more respect to these monsters and guardians. So he placed his hands together and followed Naoto's example.

'Volf?'

'Yes?'

'Thank you for being there to keep me safe. Thank you for bringing me back from the darkness. Thank you for keeping me safe all these years and trying your best to guide me along the right path. Thank you for helping me mature into the man I am today. Most of all, thank you for stopping me from making the biggest mistake of my life. Thank you for calling me names and bullying me out of it. I hope we have a lifetime to stay with one another, my old friend'

Volf grew quiet inside Sebastian's head before the animal chuckled.

'It has been an honor, Sebastian'

"Sebastian?"

"Hmm?"

Sebastian kept his eyes closed as he paid his respects to Yamato

"I was under the implication that you did not believe in such things as prayer. Was I mistaken?"

"Not at all; but I see no harm in giving thanks to those who have kept us safe from harm all these years, recent or otherwise. I see no harm in wishing for them to continue their work to keep us safe and guide us along on our path. Without Volf, I would have been dead years ago. I don't see why I cannot give thanks to the invisible monster inside my head"

Naoto hadn't thought of it that way before. Sure, she and Yamato had only recently begun to make serious progress in advancing Naoto's skillset and combat prowess; but she had never really considered all that Yamato had done for her beforehand. Just keeping her safe was worthy of something, and Naoto brought her hands together again, giving thanks to the warrior that had been buried deep inside of her.

Sebastian felt Volf smile, knowing that Yamato and Naoto were talking, connecting.

'What are they saying, Volf?'

'Something long overdue, my friend.'

After a few moments, Naoto let her hands relax and fall to her sides, slipping into her pockets to keep warm. He smiled at her as they turned from the shrine and made their way into the shopping district, walking home.

Sebastian cleared his throat

"I can't hold your hand, can I?"

Naoto felt her face heat up and her hand closest to him clench tightly in her pocket. She shook her head.

"I am afraid it is out of the question, Sebastian. At least not while the eyes of others are about us"

"I understand"

Naoto was a little surprised by his response. Souji's had been entirely different.

"You…aren't going to try and convince me otherwise?"

"Should I? Would you change your mind if I attempted to argue with you?"

"I...I don't know. Most likely not"

"Then why would I attempt to convince you otherwise?"

"I don't know. Perhaps out of the desire to do so?"

"Naoto, if you don't want me to hold your hand in public then I won't push to do so. I don't want you to be uncomfortable"

Naoto chewed on what he said as they walked quietly, the shopping district behind them and now walking closely on the dirt road back to his residence. When she found that she was drifting behind him, she quickened her pace to catch up and slipped her hand into his pocket, wrapping her slender fingers around his hand.

They said nothing to one another. Naoto smiled a small inconspicuous smile when she felt Sebastian's hand grip hers a little tighter.

"Do I bring wine to a funeral?"

Two days later, Sebastian awoke to the alarm on his phone. In three hours they would be standing in a graveyard with Naoto's friends, paying their respects to a dead man that Sebastian barely knew.

As far as Sebastian knew, Adachi had been a bastard. An evil manipulative murdering bastard. A man who was willing to watch the shadows spill into the real world and drown it out because he was bored. He didn't understand why Naoto and her friends even cared that he was dead. They had faced against him and had been damaged in the fight. His persona was a monster in itself. Why care? Why show up?

But as Sebastian pulled himself from his warm covers, leaving Naoto to curl up tighter now that her primary source of heat had left her, he really didn't think he cared why. As he walked into the bathroom, he began to understand that it wasn't his place to understand what they thought. That it was only important that the members of her investigation team understood why they were there. As he stepped into the shower, he began to understand that he was simply an onlooker and did not belong with them. That their previous struggle would never be able to be understood by him and that their struggle was theirs alone for only them to know of and embrace.

There would be no songs or stories of victory over the shadows. That they alone had, in essence, saved the world. How sad. He began to understand where Adachi fit into all of this: putting their story to rest. It died with him. It died with the reason they had all met and come together to put a stop to the mayhem.

He didn't have time to think about their story. Theirs had been written and they were all lucky to have come out of it unscathed; nothing short of a miracle when he thought about it. As he leaned his head down under the hot water, pressing his forehead against the cool tile of the shower wall, he sighed. He rested both his arms against the wall and closed his eyes. There was a sinking feeling that neither he nor Naoto would walk away from this as untouched as she had in her previous investigation.

Volf was being oddly quiet this morning.

"Something wrong, old boy?"

'There is a smell in the air'

"I don't smell anything…"

'I can smell it. It's fresh. Strong. Something I haven't smelled before. Something foreign.'

Sebastian sighed and ran one of his hands along his face. Volf's senses were messing with his head. His thoughts were getting foggy and he was having trouble concentrating. When Volf got quiet again, Sebastian began to get a little concerned.

"What's wrong?"

When slender fingers and soft arms wrapped around him, he pulled forward a bit in shock. The arms around his stomach and chest didn't let go however and followed him. The soft breasts that followed pressed against the large scar on his back and the hips drew up against his body. He relaxed when Naoto's voice eased him out of his concern and he relaxed against the wall again.

"Everything alright, Sebastian?"

"Um…yea. Everything is…"

He sighed and turned around to face her, half of her hair wet from the showerhead and the other half dry from not being exposed to the moisture. She looked cold and so he backed up to pull her into the water and pull her against his chest.

"Everything is as it should be. Volf says there is something in the air that is making him a little restless. Some new sort of smell."

"Is everything alright?"

"I'm sure it is. It's just that-"

Naoto leaned in and sank her teeth into his chest, her arms wrapping around him tightly so he couldn't get away

"Ow!"

Naoto pulled her teeth back and brought her hand to her mouth

"Forgive me. It's just that…you looked really good in the shower..."

She looked down as she spoke, her hands slipping behind her back shyly. Sebastian drew her against him, his hands pressing against the small of her back. She looked up to him.

"Gently, Naoto…"

"I apologize. I'm still getting used to there being two inside of my head"

"I can understand the biting. It's hard to revert once you have had a wolf inside of you"

Naoto blushed and slapped his chest at the comment

"Don't say it like that!"

It had started to lightly snow once Sebastian and Naoto pulled up to the graveyard. Space, in a country of such a vast population, was limited. There was to be no official burial of Adachi so much as the aftermath of the actual burial. There was to be no priest or sermon of any kind. The government and members of the police force had been able to purchase him a grave and a headstone. Nothing more. This would be Adachi's resting place.

Sebastian was a little hesitant as Naoto opened her door to the snow, wrapping her scarf around her neck before she stepped out. He wondered if he really belonged here again. Adachi, from his findings, had been a rather pleasant individual to be around; as far as he could tell. He had been friendly, polite, even caring at times. It was hard to imagine what it was like to live two different lifestyles like that. To always hide your true intentions just below the skin of your face.

Actually, it wasn't hard to imagine. Sebastian had been living his entire life like that. Naoto had been living that way as well. Maybe it wasn't that difficult to imagine after all.

Still, Sebastian felt responsible for what had happened to Adachi. It was because of him that Adachi was the latest victim. At the same time, Sebastian understood that it wasn't as though he could have done anything about it. It wasn't as though Sebastian knew that Adachi was to be the next killed. He could have asked, but he would have been punished for asking a revealing question. He was thankful that Simon had become impatient in dealing with Sebastian.

If he had decided to continue to play with Simon, he didn't know how long he would have lasted with what Simon **could** have done. He was thankful that Anansi and Simon had wanted to deal with him rather than play with him. If not for cracking the case, Sebastian and Naoto would still be playing the game.

Naoto looked into the car.

"Sebastian? Is everything alright?"

It took a moment for him to respond but he nodded his head and opened his door, stepping out into the snow. As Sebastian made his way to the other side, he paused in the middle of his step, his legs feeling weak all of a sudden. Naoto caught him, bracing him against her.

"What's wrong?"

Sebastian stood up straight again, one of his hands pressing against his face for a moment as he shook his head. His senses were a mess.

"It's Volf. That smell is making him a little aggressive."

Naoto pulled up on her hood when she was certain he could stand on his own two feet, moving away from him a few feet.

"Can you smell anything, Yamato?"

'Not a thing; I'm no wolf though. The dog is right though. Something different is in the air.'

Naoto instinctively crossed her arms, slipping the tip of one of her thumbs between her teeth and biting it. Something had changed in Inaba over the last few nights. This concerned her. If it was affecting Volf and Sebastian so dramatically, why was it not affecting her as strongly? Or had anyone else felt it? She doubted it. They did not have as strong a connection with their personas as she and Sebastian did.

Sebastian shook his head a few more times and grit his teeth. He let out a growl. It was getting stronger. Closer.

"Sebastian…"

Naoto approached him and took a quick glance around to see if anyone was watching. There were a few people scattered about, but all were busy paying their respects to their loved ones.

'You are clear, sweetheart'

Naoto leaned up onto the tips of her toes to kiss him, one arm slipping around him. She could feel his heart beating in his lips as she pressed herself against him. She was relieved when his growl dissipated and he pulled the hood on his jacket up to hide them from the snow and the world around them. Under their hoods, in that small space, only they existed.

Naoto broke the kiss for a moment to look into Sebastian big green eyes with a small smile that was obviously not her own. Yamato smiled at her wolf in Sebastian and the wolf smiled back. Yamato grabbed Sebastian's jacket collar and kiss him again, Naoto's face going red. She was happy it was enough to calm down the beast inside him.

Naoto took a moment to compose herself when she broke the kiss and straightened her jacket, pulling her hood back down. She fixed the collar of Sebastian's when she was done.

"Better, Sebastian?"

"Better. Thank you."

Naoto smiled slightly and began her walk through the graveyard to look for her friends. Sebastian, oddly enough, felt more compelled to stay behind her, following her quietly. Normally he preferred to walk beside Naoto. They were a team after all. This time however was a little different. Volf guided him behind Naoto, following….obediently.

"Volf…"

'She is unlike any creature we have ever encountered'

"Volf…"

'It's in my nature, Sebastian.'

"So what is this then? Following your master?"

'I…suppose it is…'

Sebastian shook his head, quietly following behind Naoto as they walked. Sebastian had never really considered the idea that Volf's instincts would pass unto him. More so, he never would have imagined that Volf's more canine like personality traits would transfer over. Perhaps he wasn't as connected to Volf as he would have liked to think. He would have to look into this. If he could in fact further the connection, what sort of changes in his personality would be as a result? Or physical? Or perhaps mental…

Sebastian shook the idea from his head and pushed past Volf to walk beside her. He was surprised there were so many gravestones in such a small place. It was nothing like in the west. There was so much room on either side of a person when they were buried. Looking at the way the headstones were so close to one another, he really considered exactly how much space was used for the dead; such a large amount of room for such a small amount of space. Wasteful.

Naoto glanced over, watching his eyes as he looked around at the dead. She wondered what he saw when he looked around. How much more did the two pairs of eyes in his head see? She pushed the idea aside when she saw her former investigation team gathered around a shiny new headstone. It was smaller than she thought it would be. Perhaps Adachi didn't have much to his name after all.

"I see them"

Sebastian stopped and pulled on the bottom of his black shirt. He wrapped his grey scarf a little tighter around his neck and pulled on the sleeves of his shirt. He leaned down and pat his hand against one side of his black jeans, knocking the clinging snowflakes off his pants..

"How do I look?"

Naoto smiled slightly and approached, wrapping his scarf properly around his neck.

"I don't usually like to be outside of my standard attire. I miss a tie around my neck."

"You look good. Thank you for wearing something a little more casual. When I think about it, this is most likely the most relaxed event we have been to together since you arrived."

"Pity it's not a more joyful one"

Naoto brushed off one of his shoulders.

"Are you sure you aren't cold? You didn't bring a jacket"

"I'll be fine. It's not that cold. Really."

There was a white flash from their side that startled them both and Sebastian snarled as he turned, his fingers curling, already on edge from the smell in the air. Naoto threw the side of her jacket out of her way, her fingers wrapping tightly onto the grip of her pistol. Chie took another shot of the two in their pose.

"Awesome! Now smile, you two!"

Sebastian was quick to chie's command. He relaxed his stance and put his arm around Naoto who needed to blink again in confusion. When she felt Sebastian's arm around he,r she blushed in a panic, her body froze up. Sebastian pulled her against him and smiled for the white flash as she took another picture with her camera.

"Chie-san! Delete those now!"

Chie flicked her thumb across the screen of her camera with a smile.

"Good one, Sebastian. She's as white as a sheet in the shot."

"I want a copy of it when you upload them"

"I'll get your e-mail address later"

Naoto moved for Chie who held the camera above her head, away from Naoto

"You will do no such thing!"

"Easy there, Naoto-kun. The man says he wants to keep it"

"But-but"

Sebastian patted Naoto on the back as he walked past the two of them to see the rest of the group

"I want it, Naoto. Print it off at home. Maybe frame is and put it on my desk"

Naoto lowered her arms as Chie walked after Sebastian

"Would you really frame us?"

Naoto thought it was actually a rather sweet gesture. She hadn't thought of getting them a picture together.

"You should get a better picture than that one…"

Naoto jogged after them, catching up quickly once formalities and greetings were over between the rest of the group. Yosuke shook Sebastian's hand firmly

"Wow, Seb, didn't think I'd get to see you in dressed all casual from your usual get up."

"Neither did I. Naoto asked me to dress down for this event. And I admit, although I enjoy dressing up for work, being the only one in a group to be dressed in a suit is rather…odd."

Kanji shook Sebastian's hand.

"Lookin' good Seb. How's your chest doing?"

"Fine, Mr. Tatsumi. Would you mind if I talked to you in private for a moment?"

"Uh…sure. I guess."

"Would you please excuse us?"

Sebastian turned Kanji with him as they walked away from the group. Naoto was more and more concerned every time those two spent any private time together. On the one hand she was sure that it was nothing and Sebastian had something he needed to say.

On the other hand, she always imagined Kanji and Sebastian snapping at one another quietly about who deserved her. It wasn't a point of interest as though she believed herself deserving of anyone let alone those two. She didn't believe she was worth being deserved; but she knew that both of those men up there ahead of the group both had very key interests in her. She didn't want Kanji to try and hurt Sebastian because he stole his chance. It was just a thought.

Yukiko cleared her throat and leaned into Naoto's ear

"So, Naoto-Kun. Is it true that you haven't left Sebastian's house in the last few days? How's training going?"

"H-how would you know about the training, Amagi-san?"

"Yosuke and Teddie said when they arrived on Christmas Eve for dinner that you two were fighting in the backyard"

"Oh. That. Yes, it's true. Sebastian is teaching me a few tricks about being someone with a persona. I must say, they are very interesting to see at work."

"What kind of tricks?"

"Well…I can speak with my persona now."

Chie was shocked.

"No way! You can talk to Yamato Takeru"

"I can. It's strange at first. Very scary even to know it's always there with you. I just never tried to speak to it before. I always thought it was just locked inside of me; a tool for defeating shadows. I was wrong"

"Cool. I wonder if I can talk to Tomoe"

"You could always try."

Chie turned from them and yelled out

"Hey Tomoe! You in there?!"

"Chie-chan, stop yelling. This is serious"

Chie turned back to them

"I'm learning things. This training is changing me. Last week I couldn't even hold a sword correctly. Yesterday I threw Sebastian around the backyard with a Bokken for over an hour without him even touching me. That man knows how to fight. But I'm learning how to operate my persona better than I could ever understand. I can feel her inside of me, breathing, moving."

"That sounds really creepy actually"

Naoto nodded her head a bit.

"It's the most amazing experience…"

Naoto turned to look at Sebastian with a smile. The pulled her hat down a little more on her head

"He is teaching me to be a more effective detective using my persona as a second set of thoughts and eyes."

Yukiko glanced at Naoto's face and then to Sebastian. The way Naoto looked when she looked at him was different. It was brighter, more relaxed. As though a weight had been lifted from her. Yukiko gasped when she figured it out.

"Oh my god, Naoto-kun"

"W-what?"

"You had sex with him, didn't you?"

Naoto felt her body betray her as her face heated up

"I-"

Chie put the back of her hand against Naoto's face

"I think she did"

Yukiko began to laugh and Naoto pulled her hat down over her eyes, averting her eyes from the two of them

"What –snort- what about Souji?"

Naoto raised her hat over her eyes, glaring at Yukkko hot enough that her laughing was silenced almost instantly.

"Souji… that boy had his chance"

Naoto let Yamato speak through her

"He had his chance to stay. He had his chance to come back. He had his chance to keep in touch and he did none of these things"

Yukiko took a step back when Naoto took one forward

"You, who begged for her prince charming, have the gall to ask me why I didn't wait any longer? To ask me if I care about…"

Naoto pressed her palm to the center of her head, gritting her teeth as she pulled Yamato back. She was becoming insulting and she couldn't have that. She pressed hard and took a deep breath, trying to relax. Her voice became steady and calm again, apologetic.

"I'm sorry for that outburst, Yukiko-san. He is still a touchy subject to me"

Yukiko looked down, rubbing one hand on her arm

"I'm sorry I said those things, Naoto-kun. I'm sure it's been difficult and I'm sure Sebastian has been a great source of comfort for you"

"He has. He's complicated in his work and methods. Damaged even. But he has been good."

Chie cleared her throat

"Is that what happens when your persona takes over?"

"I would not refer to it as 'taking over' Chie-san. Sebastian refers to it as a simple influence, Saying what needs to be said, doing what needs to be done; honesty. Yamato needed to get a point across, so she spoke through me"

"This is all really weird, Naoto-kun"

Naoto smiled

"It is indeed"

Sebastian reached into the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out an envelope which he handed to Kanji. Kanji eyed the letter for a moment and turned it over in his hands several times before opening it up and pulling out the three sheets of paper. The designs were basic to a pattern for making cloths. He scanned the work a few times before looking up to Sebastian.

"What am I supposed to do with this?"

"I want you to make it"

"For you?"

"No. For her"

Kanji glanced over Sebastian's shoulder to Naoto and felt his shoulders slump. He would have done anything for her.

"How much will it cost me to have you make it?"

"That really depends. When do you need it by?"

"First week of February"

Kanji looked over the sketching and patterns again

"How did you get these measurements?"

"While working with the detective, more than once have we come into contact with one another. I simply compare my body to hers and cut down on the lengths from there. They are all accurate, I assure you"

Kanji flipped through the pages again before he folded them up, put them back into the letter and stuffed them into his pocket

"If you pay for the materials, I'll do it free of charge. A one-time thing."

Sebastian smiled at the man and offered his hand to shake which Kanji took without hesitation

"She's goanna look great, you know?"

"Of course I know, Mr. Tatsumi. It was my idea"

Kanji smiled a bit and walked past Sebastian to join the group again with Sebastian in tow. Together, the six of them gathered at the gravestone, putting their hands together in prayer. Sebastian stood to the side of the group, looking down at the slab. Out of everything that Adachi had done, it had led to this moment. All he was was a name now.

The idea put a sour taste in his mouth. If Sebastian was to die tomorrow, all that he would be was a name on a piece of stone. Maybe a more respected and professional name on a piece of stone, but a ghost none the less. Nothing. He hoped that he wouldn't go as silently into the night as Adachi had.

"Poor bastard…"

Naoto looked to Sebastian at his comment

"His death has been paramount to our investigation, Sebastian"

"That does not mean he died in a good way…"

Sebastian kissed the tips of his fingers and leaned down to touch the stone of Adachi's grave. Terrible waste of life.

Sebastian felt a pang of pain inside of his head as Volf threw itself around inside of Sebastian's body. He felt his legs get weak and he brought one of his hands to his head as he braced himself against one of the larger headstones of another dead man. Naoto gritted her teeth. Something was driving Volf crazy inside of Sebastian and he was losing his fight to keep Volf sedated.

"Stop it, Volf"

'It's close. The source is close'

Sebastian needed to stay on his feet. Naoto broke her prayer to come to his aid. Yamato's breathing stopped inside Naoto's head. It was concerning.

"What is it, Yamato?"

Kanji watched the two, growing concerned for both of them. Naoto had just lost the color in her face

"Are you two ok?"

Sebastian shook his head

"Something's wrong."

"Hey everyone"

The group turned to the voice of Dojima as he walked down the path Naoto and Sebastian had come from. Naoto remembered that Dojima was the one that had told her the other night when they had visited the prison that this was the date to say goodbye. She had completely forgotten that he was going to be there as well.

Nanako stood at his side, the little girl who melted everyone's heart smiled brightly, holding her dads hand. She was getting taller. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail for the day and hung down the back of her red hat.

It took a moment to notice. At first it had seemed like an illusion. Or maybe it was just suspended disbelief; but when their eyes crossed over the face of the other man who held Nanako's other hand, for a moment in everyone's head, time seemed to stop. Sebastian felt a chill pierce him harsher than the weather ever could have been.

Souji Setta.

It was his eyes that had changed. He was just as tall, just as toned, just as…Souji. But his eyes held something different in them as he walked alongside Nanako towards them. Naoto didn't know which emotion to follow on. Was she to rush to him and embrace him, or break his jaw? Both ideas were coursing through her.

Sebastian glanced quickly over his shoulder to look at the man, at the silver haired ghost he had heard so much about. Volf roared inside his head and his fists clenched so tightly he thought he was going to lose control. He was the first to break the silence.

"I can't be here, Naoto"

It took a moment for Naoto to respond and even then no words came from her mouth. Her eyes pleaded with him.

"If I stay, Volf will try to kill him. I-I have to go."

Naoto turned as Sebastian walked past them, further into the graveyard to get away, stumbling as he moved, his footsteps moving faster and faster as the source of Volf's anger drew closer.

"I'll be waiting at home if you decide to come by. I-I c-can't be here"

Naoto didn't want him to go. She needed support right now; but he left them, unable to control his beast within.

'Volf told me to tell you something. He says, "Your move" '

When his voice touched her ears, it was the strangest sensation. Warmth passed through every bone in her body as her being played on the very sound of his voice. She felt her legs get weak but she had nothing to brace herself against and she prayed she could stay standing. All eyes were on Naoto.

"Hello there, little prince"

He had the smallest smile on his face as he stepped behind her. He kept both his hands in his pockets having broken away from Nanako. He looked down at his shoes as he spoke, his smile fading

"Naoto. I'm sorry."

She kept faced away from him, her hands clenched tightly into fists as she tried not to cry.

"I'm sorry I never came back for you. I'm sorry I never tried to contact you."

Naoto felt Yamato try to make her walk away without a word to him. But her efforts were futile. Naoto couldn't feel her legs to move as his voice started to chip away at the stone discontent she had for him.

"When I got home I started thinking. I had to be alone to consider what we had done as a team and what that meant for our future. I…I was in a bad place the more I thought about it"

Naoto made certain to look her friends in the eyes as she started to cry, her face tight as tears began to run down her cheeks. No sound came from her. Her lips did not tremble. This was not an upset cry. Kanji knew that look. He had felt it himself on more than one occasion. He looked away from the group, not wanting to see her like this.

"I just wanted you to know that. That I'm sorry. I'm sorry to all of you. I know you all think I abandoned you. I guess I did"

Naoto felt her lips pull back as whatever it was that she was feeling was beginning to reach its boiling point.

"And I'm especially sorry to you, Naoto. I can't imagine what you have been feeling…"

Naoto turned slowly to face him and look up at his features. He was so handsome. His skin was smooth and his expression was indeed apologetic. But even with that, the only thing that was running through Naoto's head was Sebastian's voice; even as his smell, which was sour, made her nose burn.

'Listen to your heart'

Her hand lunged for Souji's throat as she pressed herself against him. She used her knees to lift his body into the air and off his feet, using her free hand to raise him up by the leg before she threw him down to the ground with all her strength. It had happened so fast that Souji hadn't had a moment to react before she delivered a powerful left hook to the side of his mouth.

She tried to deliver another punch but Yosuke wrapped his arm around her elbow and his other arm around her stomach, trying to pull her off of him.

"Get off of me, Yosuke!"

"Help me get her off of him!"

Teddie and Chie rushed in to try and wrestle Naoto off of Souji and pull her out of arms reach. Souji, hand on his cheek, kicked himself backwards on the ground away from the thrashing detective as she tried to hit him again. She screamed.

"Do you have any idea what you did to me?!"

Dojima stood between them

"Detective Shirogane, what the hell is wrong with you?"

Nanako began to cry, scared and upset

"Don't you hurt my big brother!"

Kanji wrapped his arms around Naoto, lifting her away from the event and pulling her down one of the paths as she struggled, pushing at Kanji and trying to get his hands off of her.

"Naoto, stop it. It ain't worth it"

Teddie helped Souji to his feet and brushed off his back. Dojima looked at the side of his jaw.

"Can you move it? Is it ok?"

"Its fine, uncle"

Souji suddenly felt light headed and leaned against one of the taller headstones as he put his hand to his mouth with a grunt.

"You ok, senpai?

Yosuke was surprised that Teddie was being friendly to him. Truth be told, Yosuke was happy to see him as well but still would have loved to have done what Naoto had just done. He was certain that they all had wanted to take a piece off of him for him abandoning them. Chie, Yukiko, Teddie, and Yosuke gathered around him. Yosuke beat Chie to the preverbal punch

"You know, I'm happy to see you as well, Senpai, but what the hell?"

Souji opened and closed his jaw several times to make sure it was ok. The pain was getting stronger and beginning to wrap around his head.

"I deserved that. I know"

Chie shook her head slowly

"You deserve much more for what you did to that girl. Why did you come back now?"

"Adachi was murdered. He was my friend. Is it really so hard to believe I wouldn't come to my friends gravesite?"

"Is that what it takes for you to stop avoiding us?"

Yukiko held Chie back.

"I'm sure we are all upset right now. Naoto especially, but we can't have this conversation here. Not in front of Nanako. What needs to be said can't be said in front of her..."

Souji looked to the little girl, crying quietly behind her father's legs before he pushed off the stone and kneeled down in front of her.

"I'm ok, Nanako. Miss Naoto is really angry with me right now. I deserved to get hit. Don't be mad at her ok?"

Nanako nodded her head a few times

"She was scary…"

"I know. Don't be mad at her, ok?"

Nanako came from around her father's legs to grab onto him, hugging tightly.

Kanji set Naoto down when he believed they were away from the group. Naoto had finally start to calm down and just be angry

"Naoto, you can't just attack him like that"

"After what he did to me?!"

"Not in front of Nanako you can't"

Naoto sighed after a moment and took her hat off to run her fingers through her hair

"We're all angry at him, Naoto. But you can't just start swinging at him. Go home. I'll call you when we are all going to get together to talk. Alright?"

Naoto approached kanji, staring him in the face

"I'm not done with him…"

Souji stood up after hugging Nanako tightly. He put his hand on his jaw as he turned to look at his friends. Kanji was walking back to them, Naoto nowhere to be seen.

"Where is she?"

"She's gone home. She can't talk to you right now"

Souji was a bit disappointed. He had wanted to talk to her. Wanted to-

"Who was that guy who left when I showed up?"


	30. Chapter 30

Sebastian ducked below the swing of Souji's sword and wrapped his arm around the boy's shoulder. Souji coughed loudly and felt his legs get weak when Sebastian's knee drove itself into his stomach and knocked the wind out of him. He felt his grip falter on his sword and it clattered to the ground, the blade sinking into the sand. Sebastian reached over the hunching boy and grabbed onto the hem of his slacks, throwing him forward onto his stomach and behind Sebastian.

Sebastian picked up the sword from the sand and tossed it off in front of Souji.

"Get up, Mr. Setta. I won't have you falter when there is still so much anger inside of you."

On approach, Souji twisted his leg and drove his heel into the side of Sebastian's knee. Sebastian yelled out as his knee buckled and he dropped onto one leg. Souji pushed himself up and threw his other leg back, kicking Sebastian hard in the chest, knocking him onto his back.

Sebastian crossed both his arms over his chest as the pain wrapped around his body and he felt his ribs and sternum take the brunt of the force. He felt like they were going to break all over again. At the sound of Souji's dashing footsteps in the sand, Sebastian rolled backwards as his attacker implanted the sword into the sand where his chest had been.

Sebastian was a little surprised that the boy had wanted to take this fight so seriously; enough to end his life perhaps. He looked up to Souji who stood, pulling the blade from the sand and swiping to get any of it off the blade. Sebastian followed his example and stood up, unbuttoning his jacket. He slid it off his shoulders and folded it up, setting it down on one of the park benches. He then removed his tie and unbuttoned the first button of his shirt to help him cool down. Next, he rolled up his sleeves to the elbow before taking his stance again.

"Come on then, Sebastian"

"I insist, Mr. Setta"

Souji pressed the icepack a little harder against the one side of his face as he leaned down to his spoon, sipping at the soup in it. He had forgotten how delicious the food atAiya's had been. He had missed this so terribly.

"A detective you say…"

Naoto sat away from the group at a separate table, staring daggers at Souji. He tried to avoid eye contact with her. Every time he happened to steal a glance he always ended up regretting it and feeling more guilty. Naoto knew this and kept staring knowing he was feeling worse and worse. She did her best to ignore the pangs of guilt that would stem up from every glance.

Kanji glanced back at Naoto for a moment before turning back to Souji

"Showed up in September after a few bodies began to show up. Been working the case ever since"

Souji chuckled and Naoto could taste venom in her mouth again with that laugh

"It's not like he's going to be of any use to the case. We all know where the bodies have been coming from"

Yosuke felt the awkward silence in the air and glanced around at everyone for clearing his throat to speak

"Actually, Senpai…he's one of us…"

Souji froze up with the spoon halfway to his mouth as he looked up to Yosuke. Slowly he lowered his spoon and glanced over to Naoto.

"Is that true?"

Naoto nodded after a moment, continuing to stare with anger at him.

"Will you please come and sit with us, Naoto?"

"Right now, Souji, it would be wise for you to keep as much distance between us as possible"

Souji looked down at his soup and set his spoon down, pushing the bowl away

"So…how have you all been?"

Chie slumped back in her chair.

"Oh come on, Souji. Where the hell have you been? Even if you were mad at Naoto this whole time I would've assumed you would have contacted one of us. E-mail. Phone? I mean, I work with your uncle. You could have passed a message along or something."

Souji leaned back in his chair.

"When I left you guys…after the case…after the grand prix…I started to think. I was afraid of coming back here. I mean…when I showed up, people started to die. My own uncle thought I was the killer for a little while. Remember?"

Naoto felt her expression relax as she listened

"I didn't want to come back because I thought that if I did then someone else would die or something else would happen; and we would be stuck trying to figure it out again. Why would I want that? Why would I want any of us to have to go through that again? Would any of you have wanted to?"

Souji glanced around the table at his friends. Teddie stared down at Souji's soup.

"I don't want any of my friends to be hurt, Sensei."

Souji looked across to Naoto and pushed back one of the seats. Naoto felt her legs start to move for it but stopped them, keeping seated.

"I was in university. I'm working on my degree. We all needed to move past it and not dwell on it. We couldn't do this kind of thing for a living. Other, more capable people could deal with it. Right? Why did it have to be us?"

Naoto sighed and looked down at the table, rubbing her hands together. She was cold where she was sitting next to the door

"It didn't have to be us anymore. We did our part. I didn't want to come back because I didn't want to start some other chain of events. I mean, I show up, someone dies. I show up, grand prix. I show up…where does it end?"

The group felt a little guilty now. They hadn't thought of it that way. There weren't too many examples, but for the examples that he had given, he was right.

"I'm sorry that I didn't talk to any of you. I thought it was for the best…I really did. But this string of murders…"

Yukikko reached out to touch Souji's hand.

"Wasted time where you could have been with your friends. Right?"

Souji nodded his head slowly after a moment and squeezed her hand.

"I'm sorry guys. I was hoping I was right. All the time I wasted avoiding you all…"

Naoto felt sick and stood up made her way outside. She needed air. She buttoned up her jacket before pulling her hood up and stepping out into the falling snow. It was getting worse. Souji took a moment and set his ice pack down on the table, following after her.

Naoto had her arms wrapped around her body to try and keep warm. She had expected to do nothing today but go to the funeral. But that was several hours ago. When she had got home, all she could do was stew in her anger while she waited for kanji's call. She had half expected for Sebastian to call her and ask how she was doing. But she remembered what Volf had said. This was all on her now. Her move.

She felt a hard shiver run through her body. She didn't want to go back in yet. When Souji wrapped his jacket over her shoulders, she refused to look at him. No matter how…she supposed legitimate…his reasons had been, it didn't excuse anything. But no matter how much she wanted to just walk away like he had, she knew she was better than that. No matter how angry she was. No matter how much she could feel her arm want to take another swing at him.

"I'm not asking you to forgive me, Naoto…"

"Almost three years, Souji-san"

"Please don't remind me, Naoto. I know how long it's been. I couldn't afford to keep doing this to my friends. How long was it going to be until our luck ran out? How many trips to the hospital with loved ones or bruises or fractures until we lost? I wanted to come back. I really did. I missed you…"

Naoto needed to be more honest with him. Sebastian would have.

"I tried to move on, Naoto. I was hoping you would have done the same. I was hoping when I showed up you would have left this town. That most of you would have. But it seems I was wrong. None of you moved on…"

He lifted his arm for her to see, pulling back the wrist of his snowflake covered sleeve to show her he was still wearing the watch she had made him.

"I replace the battery every few months. I've had it taken apart a few times by professionals to have it cleaned. But I can't bring myself to take it off. But, why does it still say 'out of range?'"

Naoto sighed and pulled the jacket a little tighter around her. The fabric, like him, smelt sour; but it was the only thing preventing her from getting a cold.

"I threw mine away when I thought I was over you."

"But you weren't, were you…"

Naoto hesitated when she tried to speak. She wasn't sure what answer to give.

"Tell me about this detective you've been seeing"

"That's none of your business!"

Naoto sighed and looked at the snow. She would need to help Yamato control her passionate outbursts. She knew how much she cared about the boy and his wolf.

"What do you want to know?"

Souji stepped in front of her. She continued to refuse to look at him, staring off into his chest; looking through him.

"Is he nice?"

Naoto was forced to look up to him when he took her hat off from under her hood and slipped it on his head. She always became embarrassed when he did that when they were together. It forced her a little more to be who she was without the ability to hide behind a safety blanket; or hat in this case.

Even now, though, with her hat gone and her ponytail sticking out the side of her hood, there was no blush on her cheeks until she thought of him. The way he ate, the way he walked, the way he had convinced her to dance with him so easily. He was manipulative and violent when he needed to be. He could get whatever he wanted from anyone with the right words; and he always had the right words. He was volatile with that beast inside of him. He had punched her in the stomach. He had made her body quiver with just a touch. He had her kiss him in public more than once. He had cracked her shell.

"He is very nice"

Souji saw what she was feeling in her eyes.

"Do you care for him?"

"I do"

"Do you… love him?"

Naoto looked up to his big pretty eyes. Still just as pretty as the day she met him. Oh how they had made her heart flutter and still did. His soft perfect lips that she had felt kiss her skin. She felt her mouth get dry. Was it love?

"It's more complicated than a yes or no answer, Souji-san"

Souji felt his shoulders slum and it was physically obvious his heart had just dropped into his stomach.

"You love him don't you?"

Naoto looked back down

"I…I don't know, Souji-san. He's different. It's complicated. He's complicated. We've been working on this case for a little while now. He's shown me things. He's taught me things about being who I am and the responsibility it carries"

"You mean about having a persona?"

"Correct. I'm doing things now I never thought possible. I can feel her, Souji. I can feel Yamato Takeru inside of me. I can feel her hand in mine and her heart in my chest. I'm changing as a person, Souji"

"I…don't know how to respond to that…"

"The persona in me loves the persona in him. Passionately. I'm not so sure if I love him or not because of that. So it really is more complicated than yes or no"

"Have you moved on without me?"

Naoto looked up to him.

"What was I to do, Souji? I waited! I waited for years for you. I still have your picture on my desk at work. I longed for you. You weren't there! Even if you were the root of the problem and you showing up triggered these events, what is stopping you from telling me how to get to you? I could have come and visited you. I could have moved! I was willing to go to the ends of the earth for you! Just to be with you…"

Souji kept quiet as she spoke, slipping his hands into his pockets to keep them warm. He wanted her to get it all out.

"I…I would feel you touching me in bed sometimes. Did you know that? I missed you so much that my mind would play tricks on me at night thinking you were still lying behind me and holding me. Do you know what that's like, Senpai? To miss and long for someone so much that from time to time you can literally feel them holding or touching you? I lost my parents when I was a child and I can't remember their voice. I miss them more than anything and yet I have never imagined hearing their voice. Or feeling their touch while I slept. But you…how do you do these things to me?"

Like every other time, Naoto's body locked up when she felt his arms wrap around her. Even though he smelt so sour, when those arms she had dreamed of wrapped around her, she was in bliss to hear that heart beating in his chest again. Even though her arms wanted to push herself away from him.

"I'm sorry Naoto. You are right. There were other options and I exercised none."

Naoto wrapped her arms around him, squeezing tightly. There was always going to be that part of her that loved him. For him to be here, close enough to touch, she was exactly where she wanted to be.

"Are you back or are you going to disappear again?"

"I need to finish my degree, Naoto. But I'll be back for you once it's done…"

'Don't you dare say it, girl. Don't you dare!'

"I can wait…"

Naoto felt her legs get weak and she slipped down Souji's body into the snow. Her chest hurt and she pressed her hand to her heat, rubbing it. She felt sick to her stomach and a little light headed. Souji caught her and eased her down.

"Naoto, are you alright?"

"I…I don't know…"

"Hang on. I'll get someone"

Naoto leaned forward and braced herself up on her hands in the snow. She closed her eyes tightly and took deep breaths, her body shaking slightly. Her head hurt like she had been thrown against a car door. She opened her eyes to the snow, small droplets of red dripping into it. She brought her hand to her nose. Blood.

Kanji was the first to her side; he put her arm around his shoulder and helped her to her shaking legs.

"You ok, Naoto?"

"I...don't know. I need to go home. I feel very...tired…"

Chie put Naoto's other arm around her

"Shouldn't we get her to a hospital?"

"No…no Chie-san, I just need to get into bed. I haven't slept well in a little while"

That had been a lie, but the last thing she wanted was to go to the hospital. Too many bad things happened to her friends and loved ones in the hospitals. She couldn't imagine Sebastian sitting in the emergency room sick with worry. He would worry…

Kanji directed Chie as they walked.

"I took ma's car. I can take her home"

Souji lifted Naoto's chin up before helping her into Kanji's vehicle

"Are you going to be ok? You're bleeding"

"It's…j-just a nosebleed, Senpai. I'll be ok…I missed you…"

Souji smiled and sat her down in the car seat

"You'll take care of her, won't you Kanji?"

"I got this, Senpai."

Souji took another long look at her before closing the door. Naoto leaned over, resting her head against the glass and closing her eyes as Kanji drove off to take her home. Souji remained, standing in the middle of the street as he watched them drive off. He felt a pang of anger resonate in his stomach and one of his hands clenched tightly in his pocket

"I will meet up with you all later. Dinner, or something. I…need to check up on a few things…"

Souji turned from the group, walking down through the shopping district

"Souji!"

Yosuke called again

"Hey, Souji!"

He ignored it a second time, reaching into his pocket to pull out his phone from it. He checked down his contact list before selecting the one he wanted and pressing call.

…

"Come on…"

…..

"Pick up. I know you're there"

"Hello? Dojima residence"

"Hey there, little lady"

"Big bro! Is everything alright?"

"Everything is fine, Nanako. We talked it out. It's fine"

"Well that's good. I didn't want anything to happen."

"It's fine. Listen, is uncle there?"

"Yea, one sec"

Souji slowed his pace before ducking in between two of the buildings and leaning against the wall, waiting for his uncle to pick up the phone.

"Hello?"

"It's me"

"What do you need?"

"Naoto had to go home. Said she wasn't feeling well. She gave me something to give her partner. Do you know where he is right now? Also I need to stop by for a moment. Pick something up I left behind on my last trip."

Sebastian sat quietly at the kitchen table; his fingers curling and uncurling along the wood as he stared down and off into space. He had been sitting there all day, hoping for the doorbell to ring and for it to be Naoto. But as time continued to go on, he was beginning to realize that it was taking longer and longer through the day. He had considered maybe going for a run, or making lunch or dinner, but he didn't want to do anything until he knew for sure what had transpired. He didn't want to move until he heard her voice. He hoped she would call.

'You need to eat something, Sebastian'

Sebastian bit his lower lip, pinching it between his teeth

'Or how about we watch some television? Or go to Jack of Ace? You look like you could use a drink'

"He had to come back now, didn't he…"

Volf grew silent

"Of all the opportunities he had to come back, he did so right when things were starting to look up...how appropriate. It could have been six months from now…it could have been a year from now…but by then it wouldn't have mattered, would it?"

'…no'

Sebastian leaned his head down, running his hands through his hair.

"What am I to do, Volf?"

'Do you trust her?'

"Around him?"

'Do you trust her?'

"…I do"

'Then trust she will do the right thing. We can't just sit here all day. We need to move'

Sebastian ran his hands along his face to try and snap himself out of it. The last thing he needed right now was to dwell any longer than he already had on the infinite possibilities that were available to her. He didn't want to lose her. It was such a strange feeling. He had never felt that he needed someone before until her. He already knew how Volf felt about Yamato. He hoped Naoto felt the same way about him.

He heard the knock at his door and stood with a sigh, buttoning up his jacket and pulling down on it to straighten the wrinkles as he made his way to the door. When he reached it, the pungent order that seeped from the other side gave him pause. He felt himself snarl but pulled his lips back over his teeth. He put the chain lock on the door before he opened it.

The eyes that stared back at him helped Sebastian understand more than he could have ever asked about the man on the other side. The way the silver eyes stared at him and the different emotions that came with that knowledge; the way his persona inside of him tried to leap out through his eyes and stab at Sebastian. He was unsure if Souji felt the same way, but Sebastian stabbed back with Volf in tow.

"Are you Seb-"

"Shut up"

Souji went to speak again but closed his mouth instead. He stood there staring at this man on the other side of the door. A voice that his girlfriend had fallen for. A face she had kissed and hands that had touched her. He felt his hand grip tighter on the wood at his side.

Sebastian glanced down to the object he carried. He was unsure if he was looking at what he hoped it was.

"Did you bring it?"

Souji opened one side of his jacket to show Sebastian the sword he carried. Sebastian closed the door and unlocked the chain, welcoming him into his home. He wondered, as Souji walked past him into the kitchen, if he was feeling the same way; if he too had a deep seeded desire to cause as much pain to him as possible. He also wondered if Souji had anywhere near the experience fighting as Sebastian did. Most of all, he wondered if Souji remembered.

Sebastian closed the door, keeping it unlocked as he walked past Souji and into the living room, picking up the small box that contained his claws.

"Shall we, Mr. Setta?"

"I haven't been inside for a little while…"

"It's like riding a bicycle: you never forget"

Souji followed Sebastian as he climbed into the television, his body disappearing into the screen. Souji was disgusted by the act but crawled in after him, rolling hard against the sand of the playground once he landed.

Sebastian took a quick look around. The playground had been repaired since he was inside a few months ago during his little transaction with Simon. He wondered if his violin was still on the roof of that building down the road. He would need to get it before he went back home. He could worry about that later. Right now there were more pressing matters to consider.

He turned to Souji after taking a few steps away and opened the box, taking his claws out and slipping them on. He pulled on them tightly to secure his fingertips into their little locks.

"So…Sebastian…-"

"Detective Chastity…"

"Excuse me?"

"Friends call me Sebastian; you are no friend of mine, Mr. Setta. It's never Sebastian to you"

Souji unsheathed his blade and swung it a few times before discarding the sheath into the sand. He practiced a lot with his sword at home. It was time to see if all that training had paid off.

"Detective Chastity, what were your intentions with my girlfriend?"

"Former girlfriend"

"Oh, so you haven't heard…"

"Whatever you have to tell me, Mr. Setta will be a lie even if it is in fact the truth. I can smell the lies on you."

"She took me back…"

Sebastian was surprised when he felt no pang of pain in his chest. Volf was blocking it out. Something was not quite right in his words. Souji leaned down and drew the blade of his sword behind his back. Sebastian crouched down onto all fours, digging his claws into the sand. Souji smiled.

"So...she was right after all. You're nuts"

"I'm complicated, Mr. Setta"

'Ready?'

"Ready…"

Sebastian tore off after Souji who planted his back leg into the sand and swung his blade up at Sebastian. Sebastian dodged past the blade and under the swing, halting to drive his foot into the back of Souji's leg, bringing him to his knee. Sebastian threw his other leg backwards, striking Souji in the side of the head from the back. Souji hit the sand but was back up quickly. Sebastian was impressed.

"So you **are** as tough as they say. Good. I was hoping for a bit more of a fight out of their savior"

Sebastian stood up and curled his hands to claws, bending one of his legs. It was Souji's turn. He dashed at Sebastian, swinging in all directions in an attempt to cut him down. Sebastian swatted at the blade, the clink of his claws on the steel of the sword echoing in the blackness of this shadow world. They both noticed the red and black waves of the sky distorting to the noise. Interesting.

Souji faked one of his swings and brought his sword down along one of Sebastian's arms. Sebastian let his arm follow the blade to reduce pressure as Souji drew the sword back. It cut through the arm of his jacket and his shirt, cutting along his arm. Sebastian took a step forward, striking Souji in the chest with his foot to gain some distance as Souji fell back. Sebastian looked at his cut. Not deep enough to need stitches. Good. He had enough of those.

'_**Volf is in trouble, sweetheart. Wake up'**_

"Come on then, Sebastian"

"I insist, Mr. Setta"

Souji dashed for Sebastian again, swinging his sword down into the sand to fling it into Sebastian's eyes. Sebastian leapt backwards and lowered his head for the sand to get into his hair. He was almost caught off guard by Souji's upward swing and with Volf's help was able to lean backwards to avoid it as the blade passed in front of his face.

Sebastian brought himself against Souji after reaching out and grabbed his shirt. Souji, sword above his head, realized too late that his sword was no good this close. He released one hand and tried to bring his elbow down on Sebastian. Sebastian threw his other arm up the block against the elbow before throwing his head up into Souji's face in a powerful head-butt. Souji reeled back from the strike, unable to see before falling back into the sand with a set of powerful punches to his sternum and stomach. He landed hard on the sand, unable to breathe.

Sebastian took a few steps forward and Souji put his hand out.

"Wait. Give me a second"

Sebastian hesitated and took a few steps backwards, giving Souji the moment he needed. This wasn't about winning to Sebastian. This was about sending a message, proving a point, and most importantly, unearthing a lie. Souji rolled onto his knees and then up onto his feet

"You're out of touch, Mr. Setta. Been too long for you to remember, hasn't it? I remember you being better"

Souji tried to get his breath back. Basketball was one thing, fighting was another.

"The way Naoto spoke of you and the way your friend spoke so highly of you, I expected better…"

Souji smiled, the blue light of a persona summon engulfing him.

"Wait till you meet my friend…"

Souji raised his hand up, his card twisting about in front of him and into his hand. He smiled and clenched his hand tightly around the card, shattering it, the light brightening enough for Sebastian needing to cover his eyes with his arm as the persona was summoned, a wing blowing sand in all directions around Souji.

When Sebastian finally was able to see through the sand and light, he was dumbstruck by the majesty of the persona in front of him. Izanagi. Sebastian felt himself drawn to it. The way its silver faceplate gleamed in the nonexistent light, the clean and crispness to its long black jacket that came down to its blade like feet; its long slender arms with clenched clawed fists at the end of broad shoulders. The bladed spear it held in its hand, shiny and razor sharp. It hungered for a fight. Sebastian smiled at the yellow glowing eyes that peered out from its helmet. Sebastian bowed

"I am honored to meet you at last…"

Souji looked up to his persona, it not paying any attention to him as it stared into Sebastian's eyes. Souji glanced between the two, unsure of what was going on

"They tell me you have a different method of using a persona, Sebastian….Detective Chastity. Is this what they mean?"

Sebastian didn't respond as he slowly approached the large creature, taking in the finer details; the clips and belts on its jacket, the white ruff along its large collar, and the tape along its spear.

"You're perfect…"

Izanagi slowly bowed its head to Sebastian and Sebastian bowed his again. It was an honor to meet this persona and be in the presence of the respect it demanded.

"I am sorry for what I must do…"

Izanagi nodded again and spun its spear around a few times before thrusting it forward. It was ready to fight.

"I am truly sorry…please don't hold back on me…"

Sebastian took a few steps back and fell onto his knee in the sand, his claws digging into the sand as he began to strain, the red light beginning to encircle his body. Souji remembered that light. It was just like when they had fought Adachi. This was no persona. This was something else.

Sebastian looked up from his bowed head with a smile as he stared into Souji's eyes, running his tongue along his lips as the red translucent double of him peeled itself off of his body and stood upright, twisting and growing as Volf began to take shape

"What the hell are you?"

Izanagi dashed through the air on Souji's command and swung its spear down on Sebastian only to have it clang against a red sparked light that arced off of his body. Izanagi tried again and again to stab or slash at Sebastian's body, but its spear just kept clanging against an invisible force.

Eventually with all the clanging, Souji noticed the force was taking form as the great dark wolf emerged from the red light, its sword deflecting Izanagi's attacks. There was a burst of red light that sent sand flying as the great wolf became fully formed, its large legs pushing against Izanagi's attack and pushing the persona back. Souji stared into the beasts big yellow eyes.

"That's no persona…"

With shaking hands, Souji readied his sword again

"You're a monster"

Sebastian brought his hand up to his nose, stopping it from bleeding down his black dress shirt as he shook his head. Souji gave him the moment that he had given him earlier.

"No, Mr. Setta. I'm complicated"

Souji dropped to his knees as Volf deflected a powerful thrust with his sword and struck Izanagi in the chest with his knee, the persona falling backwards, its body never touching the floor. The attack had struck Souji to his core but he forced himself up to his feet as did Sebastian.

"I can't let a monster like you be close to her"

"I am looking forward to beating the truth out of you, Mr. Setta"

Souji snarled and dashed at Sebastian as Izanagi did at Volf.

"I can handle this one, Volf. Deal with that one"

Volf deflected a thrust from Izanagi and grabbed the persona by the head. The wolf hooked the spear around under his and lifted the persona up, slamming it into the ground by its skull. There was very little hesitation in Izanagi for it to get up and begin it strikes.

This was what Volf had ached for. To finally fight something as skilled with a weapon as Izanagi was was breathtaking for the beast. It loved fighting. As much as it enjoyed watching Yamato fight, he would never be able to bring himself to fight her himself. He loved her too much. He would have preferred to simply let her win. It was no fun to Yamato to fight Volf.

Sebastian sidestepped Souji's sword and grasped for his throat. When Souji grabbed at Sebastian's they locked with one another grabbing wrists and throats.

"Your persona resents you, Mr. Setta. Is it because of the lie you fed her? That you were scared for her safety? For all their safety?"

Sebastian felt Souji waver and pushed through the choke, striking Souji with his skull again and bringing the boy to his knees. Sebastian forced him to stay locked in their struggle

"She bought it didn't she. You know why? Because she loves you!"

Souji threw the tip of his head into Sebastian's, Sebastian wavering this time and falling to one knee. Summoning Volf always made him so tired. But there was information inside Souji's head that he wanted. And he wanted to hear him say it.

"Fuck you. I didn't lie to her"

"Bullshit you didn't!"

Sebastian cried out and felt his arms get weak as Izanagi struck Volf along the side of the jaw with his spear. Souji reeled his fist back to strike Sebastian but cried out as Volf countered by driving his fist into Izanagi's stomach followed by a head-butt to the steel face plating. Volf was bleeding now down the middle of his head. He snarled at Izanagi who remained silent as it floated away from the animal to get some distance before they clashed again.

Souji now rested against Sebastian as Sebastian rested against Souji, both on their knees pressed against one another as their personas beat one another to death exchanging their blows. Sebastian was quiet as he spoke

"What lie did you tell her, Mr. Setta?"

"I didn't lie to her… or any of them"

Sebastian fought to bring his hand up to Souji's shoulders before leaning up and striking Souji in the skull again. Souji fell back against the sand, Sebastian crawling on top of him, pinning his sword arm to the ground with his knee.

Sebastian took a moment to gather his breath before yelling

"Volf! Enough playing around!"

As if on command, with a swing from Izanagi's spear, Volf countered and slapped the spear away with his sword. Izanagi's eyes glowed brighter at the realization of the coming assault but could not move faster than the wolf to prevent it as Volf spun low and tripped Izanagi to the ground. He lunged at the persona's throat but was being held back by the powerful arms of his prey

When Volf delivered several punches to Izanagi's stomach, the strength wavered and Volf's teeth found Izanagi's throat, clamping down tightly on it. Izanagi didn't move.

"Now then, Mr. Setta…"

Sebastian delivered a powerful right hook to Souji's head. Souji thought he might black out.

"Why didn't you come back?"

"I…I didn't want anyone hurt"

Sebastian spat into the sand, disgusted by his conviction. He struck him again; unsure if would be able to contain himself if he didn't keep asking.

"Why didn't you come back, Mr. Setta?"

When Souji didn't respond, Sebastian reeled his fist back for another strike, but he froze up as an object skimmed over his head followed by the sound of a gunshot. Slowly he turned in the direction of the sound. Naoto, her revolver aimed at Sebastian

"Get. Off. Of. Him. "

Sebastian glanced down to Souji again

"I will not say it again, Sebastian. Get off of him"

Sebastian grit his teeth and glanced over to Volf, Izanagi's throat in his sharp teeth, waiting orders from his friend

"No, Naoto."

"Please don't make me shoot you…"

"The only way I'm going to stop hitting him is if he speaks the truth. The truth to remove the lie he told you. I can smell the lie in him. So if you want me to stop hitting him until then, you are going to have to kill me. Do you think you can do that?!"

He brought his fist down again on Souji's face, striking the bruise Naoto had left him. He was proud of her for that. Naoto pulled back the hammer of her revolver

"Sebastian, please! Please don't make me do this!"

"Volf, if that hammer strikes another bullet, I want you to bite off the head of that persona. Do you understand?"

Volf clenched his jaws a little tighter around the persona's throat, Izanagi beginning to struggle under neither the hulking beast

"Sebastian…please…please don't do this…"

Sebastian looked back to Naoto.

"It has to be done, Naoto. You deserve to know the truth…"

Naoto couldn't stay standing, her knees buckling. She tried to keep her pistol aimed at Sebastian, but Yamato's influence kept moving it away. She wasn't sure if she was crying. Sebastian felt awful for needing to put her through this. If he survived, he would need to apologize. Sebastian's head cleared when another voice pierced his head, the voice of Yamato. He had never heard it before.

'Sebastian…why are you doing this?'

'Hello, Yamato. You sound as lovely in my head as you look in person'

'Why…?'

'Because he's lying to her and she deserves to know the truth.'

Sebastian brought his fist up and struck Souji Several times around the head and neck. Naoto screamed at him

"Stop it!"

"Why did you never come back?"

He struck him again

"Why did you abandon them?!"

He struck him again

"Tell her the truth!"

Naoto raised her pistol again and felt herself squeeze the trigger. Souji coughed under Sebastian

"Because I didn't want to…"

Naoto felt her whole body tighten. Sebastian slowly lowered his fist and climbed off of Souji. He grabbed onto the boy's collar and dragged him through the sand to Naoto, throwing him at her feet.

"Say it again so she can her you better…"

Souji couldn't look at her

"I didn't want to…"

"Why didn't you want to, Mr. Setta?"

"Because I didn't want to be like me anymore"

Naoto slowly released the hammer of her pistol as she listened to Souji. Sebastian turned from them and returned to Volf, patting him on the side of the head to release Izanagi.

"When I got home...I realized that I didn't want to do it anymore. I wanted to go back to the way things were before I ever came to Inaba. I knew that if I came back…that we would all keep going back into this place. I didn't want to. I didn't want to remember what we had done."

"But...we did amazing things, Senpai…"

"We did. But I didn't want to do it anymore. It wasn't about safety. It was about common sense. We were thrown into this thing, Naoto. Then we solved it. And everyone else was perfectly willing to keep going back. I wasn't willing to."

Naoto helped Souji to his feet. He would be fine but would bruise up really nicely after Sebastian's beating.

"I wanted it all to go away, Naoto. I wanted to forget what had happened and the power that we held together. I didn't want to have a persona anymore…"

Naoto looked down

"So you didn't come back…because you resented what you were. What you had become…"

Naoto felt her fist clench tightly and she put her gun away.

"You stayed away because you wanted nothing to do with us anymore…because of who we had become"

Souji stayed quiet, unsure of what to say

Naoto glanced up to him, tears in her eyes, but her voice was so calm

"I was willing to come back to you…"

Sebastian felt a pang of sadness inside his chest as she said those words. Volf began to dissipate into red light forming back into Sebastian's body. Izanagi could have reacted, but instead disappeared as well, leaving the three of them in this shadow world. Sebastian went to pick up his tie and jacket, beginning to roll his sleeves back down. He needed a shower. Whatever was to transpire between the two of them had nothing to do with him. This was between them. Sebastian was just an unfortunate bystander.

"I was willing to abandon everything in order to come back to you…again. Twice now, Souji…"

Sebastian slipped on his tie, folding his collar over it and reattaching his tie pin.

"I was willing to forgive you if you just told me the truth…"

He threw his jacket on, buttoning up the two buttons to his jacket and straightening his sleeves. He looked at the cut Souji had made. Maybe Kanji could fix it.

"But instead…you fed me and the others a lie. You lied to all of us with a straight face and asked for forgiveness."

Naoto finally blinked.

"Go home…"


	31. Chapter 31

Kanji kicked the doorframe as he yelled out, both hands pressed to either side of his head.

"Fucking asshole!"

Sebastian took another sip of his hot chocolate and closed his eyes, enjoying the taste. It was darker than before. He wished he could have found some of that After Eight hot chocolate he had heard about. Not even in Japan. Or maybe just not Inaba

Chie slammed her fists down on the kitchen table.

"I can't believe we ate that shit he was serving. Can you believe that guy?!"

Sebastian opened his eyes slowly as he looked at them.

"Will you two just calm down?"

Yosuke stood up from the living room, making sure Sebastian could see him

"Oh yea, Seb, we'll all just calm down after being-"

"Shut. Up!"

Yosuke wanted to snap back at him but instead just sat down, slumping back against the couch. Teddie gripped his pants a little tighter at his knees.

"Is he really gone?"

Sebastian felt horrible for the boy

"Teddie, come sit with me. Have some hot chocolate. All of you. Sit with me. The sugar will do you some good."

Teddie was the first to get up from his spot in the living room to join Sebastian in the kitchen. Kanji was next followed by Yukiko and Yosuke. Sebastian stood up to get them all a drink as they all exchanged glances and some, more than others, made it overtly known how angry they were.

Naoto remained in the living room on the big chair beside the couch, facing away from the group. It was only then that Yukiko spoke up

"Naoto-kun, are you not joining us?"

Naoto said nothing as she sat there for a few moments before standing up.

"I need to go to the bathroom. Excuse me…"

Sebastian turned to watch her go before beginning to hand out the hot chocolate to everyone.

"So…Seb… how are you and Naoto doing?"

Sebastian sat down slowly, his chest hurting from his altercation with Souji a few days prior.

"It's difficult right now, Yosuke. She hurt me."

Chie blew on her mug

"Think you two are going to be alright?"

Sebastian nodded after taking a sip from his cup

"I'm sure we will, Officer Satonaka. Right now, however, we're not really speaking with one another"

Yukikko looked back at the bedroom door Naoto had walked through

"Poor Naoto. She gets exactly what she wanted for so long and it turns out to be a lie"

Sebastian smirked

"She's a strong girl, Miss Amagi, she will be fine. Right now she's more concerned what to do with me. She's upset that she decided to take Souji back. At the same time, she feels very guilty right now because she was willing to disappear on me like Souji had done to her. She feels awful about it…"

Teddie blew on his cup as he drew it to his mouth with both hands

"But you're gonna' forgive her, right?"

Sebastian didn't answer as he stared down into his mug

"Teddie…She hurt me. Badly. I told her early on when I realized we had feelings for one another that I couldn't be involved with her if she was willing to jump back into Souji's arms. I told her to come to me when she was certain she was done with him…"

Sebastian swirled around his mug

"She wasn't over him and ready to move on. It hurt me. It broke a trust I had with her."

Seb was surprised to hear Kanji speak in her defense

"Seb, what would you want her to do differently?"

Sebastian rolled his eyes and set his mug down.

"Why do I feel like everyone is against me on this? Does no one understand that I am the only one who should be feeling upset and angry about this?"

A few members of the group looked down to their drinks

"I mean Christ. I put myself on the line for her and she was so willing to discard me like an old newspaper when she heard Souji had a 'legitimate reason' to stay away. And you all expect me to just let her leap back into my arms on a rebound? What kind of person does that make me?"

The stress of the situation was thick and Sebastian ran both his hands along his face, careful of the small bump still at the tip of his head where Souji had head-butted him

"I'm going to forgive her. Of course I am. And I am willing to do it the moment she apologizes to me. I can't stay angry at her. I want to. I want to desperately stay angry at her. But the persona in me won't let me. Volf loves Yamato too much to let something so simple get in the way."

Sebastian began to fiddle with his mug, running his fingers along the rim and pushing it along the table with his fingertips.

"I want to be mad at her for betraying me so easily…I want to forgive her. But I can't let something like that slide so easily. Maybe after tonight I'll think about it. But I want her to sit and stew in it for long enough to realize what she did. I want her to feel as bad as possible to hopefully understand how I feel."

Naoto kept her hand sealed tightly over her mouth as she slid down the door, tears running down her cheeks and along her hand, her eyes clenched tightly together. She grit her teeth and bit her tongue to stifle her quiet angry sobs as she listened. Yamato hadn't spoken to her since the incident. It was difficult for her to feel abandoned by her closest friend, Yamato, and the man she cared for.

But he was right. How could she make the claim she cared for him if she had been willing to run away and drop everything for Souji? What kind of person did that make her? She thought back to all the times she had cried to his picture, all the times she had dreams about the two of them sharing a lovely moment, all the times she had imagined and missed him to the point of tears. She was willing to do the same thing to Sebastian; a man who had tried his best for her and remained kind and considerate throughout the whole time knowing each other. She felt horrible.

The knock at the door made her bite her hand to suppress the little yelp. It was Yukiko.

"Naoto-kun? You ok?"

Naoto took a deep slow breath before choking back the lump in her throat

"Y….yes"

Naoto was thankful Yukiko whispered.

"Are you sure?"

"…."

"Naoto?"

"No…"

Yukiko glanced back at the group, chatting quietly amongst themselves

"Can I come in?"

"…no"

"Please let me in, Naoto-kun."

Naoto shifted herself away from the door and reached up for the handle, opening it for Yukiko. She wiped her cheeks as Yukiko entered and sat down beside her in front of the door.

"So…"

Naoto wrapped her arms around her legs and squeezed them tightly

"Yamato hasn't talked to me in a few days. Sebastian won't speak to me either…"

"I know. But I'm sure you know what you did wrong…"

Naoto nodded and sighed, wiping her cheeks again as she tried to calm down

"What happened to me, Yukiko-san? How was it so easy to be ready to abandon everything again?"

Yukiko scooted a little closer to her and Naoto leaned her head over, resting it on her shoulder

"I think you just missed him is all. That even though you were angry at him, you wanted him back. I think you made the wrong decision, but I'm not going to fault you, Naoto. I would have done the same."

Naoto looked up to her. Yukiko stared into the distance at the bed

"If Souji and I had become involved, if I had loved him as you did, I probably would have done the same"

Naoto sighed and rubbed her eyes

"He's mad at me. I didn't know I could hurt him so effectively"

Yukiko felt a small smirk cross her mouth

"Well it looks like you affected him. So now the only thing to do is try and make it right. And you do that by not keeping this silence of yours"

Naoto leaned up from Yukiko's shoulder and stared off into the darkness of the room

"Do you really think he will forgive me?"

"I do. But not until you say you are sorry. Now get up. I'm not spending the evening here trying to convince you of anything"

Yukiko stood up from her spot.

"I'm not going to spend any length of time trying to get some deep seeded point across or some form of revelation. You already know what you need to do. You're a smart girl."

Naoto felt a small smile tug at her lips and she stood from her spot, taking a moment to stretch before following Yukiko out into the kitchen. The mood had shifted and everyone had their serious faces on as the two sat down. Yukiko knew Naoto wouldn't start, so she did instead.

"What's going on?"

Kanji sat back in his chair

"Seb is trying to make a point. I think its nuts"

Sebastian tilted his mug back to get the last of his drink before he continued from the previous conversation

"That is a matter of opinion, Mr. Tatsumi. Naoto can vouch for me"

She was lost

"What are we talking about?"

Yosuke set his mug down on the table

"Seb wants us to start training to be like what you've become"

"It's a very simple process, Mr. Hanamura"

"It's not about simplicity, Sebastian, it's crazy"

"No, it's necessary. I really am shocked to think that out of all the persona users at this table, only two people here are any good at using one. Only two people have any idea of the gravity of what they are capable of"

Sebastian leaned back in his chair.

"I mean, have any of you, even once, tried to communicate with your persona; other than Naoto?"

When no one put their hand up Sebastian started to shake his head

"It's no wonder they all resent you"

Sebastian folded his hands on the table and looked down at them as he rubbed them together

"A persona is a living breathing creature. It feels and hungers. It loves and hates and gets upset. The way they all speak to Volf is heartbreaking. They are all feeling resented and are upset with you all. Even you, Naoto"

Naoto looked down to the table, it hurt to hear that. Sebastian went around the table

"Chie, why haven't you been training as often as usual? It's been three weeks since you last swung a kick. Why? Don't you like training anymore? Don't you want to keep to your promise to help the weak?"

Chie stared down at the table, her fists clenching

"How do you know about that?"

"Kanji? Why aren't you more excited about your business deal with Junes? Are you afraid you will have to leave your mother? Or is it because the product won't have the care and attention you put into everything you do"

"That's not-"

"Teddie…why are you upset all the time now? I know you aren't a denizen of this world and I'm sure you miss your home. But what is stopping you from going back every now and again to kill the sting? Why aren't you speaking out about how lonely you are? Why are you crying yourself to sleep?"

Teddie slunk back in his chair, leaning his head down to hide his pretty face. A few of the others glanced over to him. Yosuke especially felt awful. He lived with the guy. He would have thought he would have known.

"Yosuke…"

"Don't go there, Seb"

Sebastian was quiet for a moment before continuing

"Why haven't you said anything to your father about it? I'm sure he can help…"

Yosuke looked away from the group before Sebastian moved onto Yukiko

"Miss Amagi, if you are so stuck and unhappy, why don't you bring up to your mother your ideas? They are wonderful ideas. I would certainly visit your business more if some of them were implemented…"

Yukiko glanced at the table. Everyone had been putting on a face and Sebastian had looked right through them all because of his persona speaking to theirs. He knew their secrets.

"Your personas want to help you. They want to guide you and keep you safe and happy and cared for. But they can't do it if you keep them locked up inside. They aren't tools; as useful as they may be. They aren't weapons; as effective as they may be. They are living being inside of you who want the best for you. So stop ignoring them…"

Sebastian glanced to Naoto but kept his mouth shut when their eyes locked. She knew he knew and she felt helpless in his guise with Yamato saying nothing to her

"You haven't even apologized to her…"

Naoto slowly shook her head. He looked around the room at her friends

"What's the point in all of you being friends with one another if no one is going to talk about their problems to the people who care most? Do any of you even go out together anymore? A movie? Get together and watch TV? Or is everyone creeping back into their shells without saying anything…?"

Sebastian broke his stare with Naoto and turned to Kanji

"Yes, Mr. Tatsumi, it's crazy. But it's a crazy that works."

Sebastian indicated her

"Naoto has made great progress with her persona up until the last little while. She's smarter, faster, and stronger. Soon she will be everything she ever wanted with the help of her persona. She will easily **easily** be smarter than I am. She will be able to read people's actions before they do them. She will always be three steps ahead of everyone she comes into contact with. It only took two months. By herself, she took down two men double her size and probably triple her weight without hesitation. Her persona is a warrior. A soldier. She could take down six if she was fast enough.

Look, all it takes is an apology and a request to move forward. That's the start. And as things go on and you become more used to it, things get easier. I got through my academic career with fantastic marks because my persona would tell me answers to tests and quizzes and would study for my brain while I slept. I'm just some guy. But today I work for one of the most respected, albeit quiet, organizations in the world.

I travel. I have met world leaders who have thanked me in person. I have saved the lives of the innocent while eliminating crucial threats to the world. But I'm just some guy no different than any of you. What makes me…what makes **us** special… is our power. We can do this. A select few others can.

There is no work ethic to what I do. I listen. I feel. I let myself be guided by the creature in my head. And if you all did that as well…who knows where you will end up. But I can promise you, it will be much better than where you feel you are comfortable now…"

No one wanted to speak after Sebastian's little speech. It was just like being exposed again. It was no different when Sebastian did it than when they were forced to face themselves almost three years ago. And he had done it so easily. His persona had spoken to theirs and in return he had exposed them to themselves. It hurt

Teddie was the first to speak

"I don't want to cry anymore…"

Sebastian smiled at him as the boy look up to Sebastian with sad eyes. Naoto was surprised the look in Teddies' eyes was of pain. She hadn't seen that in his eyes in a long time. Yosuke, always with a joke to break the tension, cleared his throat

"I really could have used my persona when trying to get through my midterms…Shame."

Sebastian nodded and stood from his seat. He opened a small pill bottle on the counter and took a green tab, swallowing it with a sigh. He was back on painkillers from his fight with Souji. His ribs, not having fully healed, taking the hit from Souji had brought him back to his pill bottle

"It will be scary at first. Terribly frightening. But remember that they are a child to you. They are instinctive. It's your responsibility to use them when necessary and always communicate with them when they speak to you. You will need all the tricks they can offer you by the time our little conflict with my murderer comes up in march. For those of you who are still interested… of course…"

He walked past the group to get his jacket, slipping it on.

"But we can all apologize later. For now, we really should get going…"

Naoto looked at the clock. It really was that time already. She stood up from her seat with the others as they grabbed their jackets and put on their shoes and boots. The snowfall had been greater this year than last year. At least she thought so. She had to go back into Sebastian's room to get her hat having left it there after climbing out of the television a few days ago.

It had been strange to be without it for a few days. The time she spent away from Sebastian had seemed to crawl in her house while she sat in her room and felt sorry for herself. Doing anything she could to pass the time until tonight. Here was hoping things would improve by nights end.

Sebastian locked the door behind him as they filed out into the street, beginning their walk to the shopping district. It was a bit of a lengthy walk, but they all knew that time with friends made lengthy walks turn into short walks. Sebastian had made it clear he was not a member of their group and was only passing through. That upset Naoto but she tried not to think about it. In only three months, Sebastian would leave Inaba. Just like before…

She needed to think of something else

"Yosuke-san?"

The boy slid off his earphones to talk to her. She noticed the markings on them as he slid them off. He had been given a better pair for Christmas. He seemed to be happy with them. She needed a pair.

"What is going on with you and your dad?"

Yosuke was confused when he looked at her

"Nothing. Dad and I are fine."

"Then, if I may inquire, what was it Sebastian was talking about?"

Yosuke was quiet for a moment as his pace slowed.

"It's not fair that he exposed us all and kept yours quiet. If there is anything we can do to help…"

"There isn't. It has nothing to do with my dad. Did Sebastian see through you as well, Naoto-kun?"

She had a small smirk on her face as she nodded her head

"He said it took him minutes to see through me"

Yosuke smiled

"I'm stuck in a place I don't want to be…"

Chie slowed down to get alongside him

"I have no high end education and I'm stuck working at Junes. I don't want to be stacking shelves for the next forty odd years. So I don't know what to do…"

Naoto understood.

"So that's why he said to talk to your dad. Because your dad practically runs the place"

"He thinks my dad will help me move up if I dedicate myself to…whatever he throws in front of me."

Chie patted him on the back

"Give him a shot. Maybe all you need to do is ask…"

"That won't sound like the father trying to get his son promoted other than another employee?"

"Who cares, Yosuke? If anyone thinks that it's only because they want it as well. You know and we know you would be doing it to move ahead and be more successful. It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks."

Sebastian smiled, walking ahead of the group by himself. He smiled knowing that Yosuke was on his way. His father would help him on his way up the ladder into a more well-paying and respectable job even if it was at Junes. He smiled knowing that if he started to try and communicate with his persona that things would move faster with his influence and telling Yosuke how to approach what step. He couldn't imagine where these individuals would be in the coming year. By this time next year, what advancements as individuals would they have made.

Much like the victims of the case, persona users tended to go far in the world. There was just something about them all.

Chie nudged Naoto forward with Yukiko towards Sebastian and ,although she resisted, the strength of both her friends forced her to his side.

"Wait. Don't"

She glanced up to him briefly before looking away when he made eye contact with her. He remained, however, silent.

She knew what he was thinking simply by knowing him. She had heard what he wanted from her when he was sitting at the table. She put her hands in her pockets

"Hello, Detective Chastity"

"Shirogane…"

She felt incredibly awkward walking beside him. She knew he was doing this on purpose. She also knew that that was the point. She removed her hands and folded them together

"Detective Chastity…"

He glanced her way again as she brought her hands up to her chest, tightly within one another

"I am sorry…"

He smiled and slid his own hands into his pockets. The cold air wasn't making it easier on his skin even with his gloves.

"I know…"

"I know I betrayed your trust and I apologize for that. I know that I hurt you and I am sorry for my actions. Can I make it up to you?"

Sebastian took a step closer to her, standing beside her. She was afraid he was going to put his arm around her or kiss her in front of her friends.

"You can start by apologizing to her for making her worried and upset"

Naoto sighed. He was right. She hadn't apologized to Yamato either.

"You've been talking with her, haven't you…?"

"I never wronged her. Of course she wants to talk to me"

Naoto stared off into the distance as she spoke, concentrating on the form she could feel inside of her very being

'I am terribly sorry for hurting you, Yamato. I know how much Volf means to you. I never meant to hurt you.'

Naoto felt a small shift inside of her body, but Yamato never responded.

'I don't want to lose them either…'

There was another shift of movement inside of her and Naoto sighed when nothing came. Instead, she was frightened when another voice ran through her body. The voice chilled her to the bone and made her want to get behind someone with its deep, growling voice.

'Come now…I know you want to forgive her.'

'…Volf?'

She glanced at Sebastian who smiled down at her as they walked

'Little Naoto is sorry, please forgive her… you know she means it'

There was a sigh inside of Naoto's head before Yamato finally spoke

'I forgive you, darling. But please, remember that it's not just you in here. I want to keep them as well… Remember to take me into consideration.'

'I will, Yamato, I promise. So that's what you sound like, Volf'

'Don't get too attached, little detective. My attention will always be drawn to Sebastian first'

Yamato chuckled

'Behave yourself, my pet…'

Volf went quiet. Naoto made a note of that.

"Naoto…"

She glanced up to him

"We can talk later of this. For now, if we don't hurry, we will be late"

Naoto nodded after a moment and picked up her speed with Sebastian, the others following as they made their way into the shopping district towards the shrine.

The group of people gathered around and outside the shrine was a bit surprising to Sebastian as he glanced about at the faces. There were many people he had met and many more that he hadn't. He was actually happy as he gathered into the group of people with Naoto and her friends.

The chatter and laugher of the people was deafening with everyone needing to talk over one another. Sebastian pulled out his phone to look at the time. It was drawing close. Sebastian couldn't be here. He couldn't be here in this large group. He needed to be where Naoto and he could talk; especially now. He wanted to get this all out in the open now before his time was up.

Sebastian grabbed Naoto by the sleeve and pulled her against him as he weaved like a snake through the crowd and away from the group, slithering around the crowd and yet not touching a single person with how he twisted his shoulders and arms around each person. It was clever.

When Sebastian finally weaved her from the crowd, he walked with her towards the alleyway of one of the shops on the other side of the street, sticking to the shadows away from the prying eyes of the people.

As they entered the alleyway, he released her sleeve and moved from her, taking his place against one of the walls.

"We need to have a bit of a talk…"

Naoto sighed and took a spot on the other side of the alleyway, leaning against the other wall.

"You see, Naoto, Volf cares very much for Yamato. He adores every inch of her uniformed body. But he is sad because he can't have her…"

"I…don't understand"

"I'm disappearing when this investigation is over, Naoto. When Simon is brought to justice, I'm gone…"

Naoto looked down at the ground.

"I have been attempting to forget that little detail…"

Sebastian looked to the ground as well, kicking at the snow

"You hurt me, Naoto…"

She began to rub her arm, ashamed at what she had done. He knew she was upset and sorry, but that didn't change anything. She had hurt him and it was going to take time to heal.

"I'm sorry…"

"I know you are, Naoto. But can you tell me why you did it?"

Naoto glanced up at him

"Can you tell me why I was so easy to forget?"

Naoto shook her head a few times.

"Not forget. Never."

She looked back down

"Never forget. Sebastian…I missed him. He was everything to me…"

"I know that…"

"No you don't. You may know but you don't understand. He was my first, Sebastian. Everything. My first hug, my first kiss, my first love…my first. It's different with your first than it is with anyone else. It is a deep seeded love. I can't explain it. He was everything to me.

When he came back, as angry as I was, I was so happy to see him again. I was glad he was alright. I was glad I could hear his voice and see him. He came back. It may not have been for me like I had wanted, but he was back. I could get the answers I needed from him.

He said he would come back for me. I don't know what it is about that boy…he does things to me"

Naoto wrapped her arms around herself, the situation making her a little colder

"Every word he speaks shakes me to my bones and with a simple glance I can fall in love with him all over again. He moves me. Do you understand that? I told him that he was the only reason I was glad to be a woman. That if I was not, we wouldn't be together. I expressed my deepest fears and concerns with him. He made me feel…loved. Wanted. Appreciated. Proud to be who I was. He grabbed onto my arm and eased me out of my comfort zone…my shell. How can I say no to that? Especially if he's lying to me and I don't know it…?"

Sebastian nodded his head when she was done speaking, bouncing himself against the wall

"You were my first…Naoto"

She looked up to him, a little shocked that, if he was telling the truth, she had been the first one.

"I mean…first kiss was stolen from a girl named Gillian Holts in third grade, but I don't really let that count. First hug is irrelevant as far as I'm concerned. First love…well…we can discuss that later."

He was silent for a moment to let it sink in that she had been his first

"When you kissed me in your kitchen a few months back, I left because I knew that you weren't ready to be with anyone. That you were still holding on for dear life to that ghost of yours. I knew that if we were to become involved and he came back, that you would run for him and I would follow you at a distance to make sure you were happy and treated well. I knew that Volf would never let Yamato go."

Naoto sucked her bottom lip between her teeth. He had been right not to follow through with her that evening. As much as the three of them had wanted to do anything, he had been the smart one to stop it.

"When I heard that you were willing to go back with him, I felt that everything I had wanted was gone. That you were in fact going to go back with him and I would follow at a distance. So close I might as well have been a million miles away. I suppose I should be thankful that he was lying to you."

He approached her, standing in front of her, pinning her between the wall and himself without actually touching her, boxing her in.

"I still want you, Naoto. I know what feeling you have been chasing and I know what you gave into when you saw him again…"

He took a few steps back

"At the same time, I want to be angry with you. I want to be mad and make you feel what I feel so you can understand…but I can't. That's not the kind of person I am. Faithful, loyal, to the core. A wolf in sheep's clothing."

Sebastian stepped towards her again and leaned in to kiss her. She lifted her chin up to accept it, but her arms grabbed ahold of his collar and she pushed him back against the opposite wall, pinning him against it as she kissed him. She had to stand on her tip toes to do it, but Volf allowed Yamato the moment to be in charge and be rough as she was.

Naoto forced Yamato back and pressed her head against his chest

"I'm sorry. I hope in time that…if there is a 'we'...that we can progress. I made a mistake and I hurt you. I'm sorry for that. All I can do is try and convince you that it won't happen again"

"That's all I can ask of you…"

Naoto smiled up at him, the moment only being broken by his cellphone buzzing in his pocket which was removed when she leaned off of him. He glanced down at the bright screen. His alarm had gone off.

"Let's get back to the others"

Naoto kissed his cheek quickly before the two of them moved from the alley, the two of them scanning the crowd for their friends. Teddie waved at them, beckoning them over, having been looking for them in the crowd

"Where did you two run off to?"

"We needed to have a chat, Officer Satonaka"

Chie glanced between the two of them

"Everything good?"

Sebastian nodded with Naoto. Chie smiled

"Good. Come on, it's almost time"

Sebastian checked his phone as they rejoined the group. Chie started them off. Somehow, it had become her thing. Her own little tradition.

"Ready everyone? Five! Four! Three! Two! One!"

"**HAPPY NEW YEAR!"**

Although it was time for celebration, and Naoto smiled as she slipped her hand into Sebastian's, the both of them couldn't help but feel the pull inside of their heads that this was all going to end soon. Two months.

Two months was all they had left before things went to hell and everything changed.

While everyone exchanged hugs and shook hands and sang into the night, Naoto and Sebastian simply watched one another as the realization set in for the both of them. If they died in the coming conflict, then Simon would have free reign in that world and it would be an almost impossibility for him to be stopped.

Yamato and Volf would be consumed along with the personas of her friends.

They would all die.

If they succeeded in the coming fight, then Sebastian would leave and Naoto would be alone again; even with the glimmer that she could come and work for Reign-beaux. It was an odd moment to share between the two of them. Everything had been rather…pleasant…over the last little while. Coming to terms with one another, beginning to possibly develop a relationship, being able to say sorry and begin healing present wounds. It was all lovely. And yet…

Reality just came down on them.

Sebastian tilted her chin up and leaned in, kissing her as she wrapped her arms around him tightly. He embraced her, holding her just as tight.

What a horrible way to start the New Year…


	32. Chapter 32

Naoto locked the door behind her as she walked into the house. She set her backpack down beside the door. She would deal with its contents later. She took her jacket off her shoulders and hung it up in the closet and took her boots off. Home. How long had it been since she had been here?

As she fell backwards against the door, she winced and pushed herself off of it. Her back hurt. She needed a shower. Limping, she slowly made her way up to her room to get undressed, pulling her tie loose from her neck and unclipping the buttons of her shirt.

By the time she reached her bedroom, she was able to throw off her shirt and drop it to the floor to join the collective mess. It was strange. She felt such a powerful desire to clean her room up; but it needed to wait. She had more pressing matters to attend to.

Sitting down at the edge of the bed, Naoto began to grit her teeth and wince as she pulled the red bandages from her hands, unwrapping the bandages she had previously used on her breasts from her knuckles. She took a deep breath in from between clenched teeth as she unwrapped them, the material clinging to her skin when she finally got deep enough in the wrapping.

With shaking hands, she unwrapped the other hand, letting out a small whimper through clenched teeth as she had to pull the bandages from her skin, ripping it in several places and causing fresh blood to rush to the surface. She let out a long breath quietly as she clenched her hands into fists, her knuckles cracking several times with several clenches.

She ran her fingers slowly over the bumps of her knuckles to feel how tender they were. They hurt just for the air to pass over them. If bruising did occur, they were going to be very ugly bruises.

She rolled gently down onto her back on her bed, bringing her legs up to take her pants and socks off. She looked along her body as the slacks were removed from her legs at the bruises on her skin along her thighs and feet.

Sebastian was full of surprises. The stronger he recovered, the more difficult he made it for her during their training sessions. His speed and strength had picked up tremendously over the last month and she was having a hard time keeping up with him now. But she was certain she could beat him; and every day, she did.

Sword training combat training, hand-to-hand, persona conditioning, physical conditioning, mental exercises, and learning to increase her reaction time with persona response. Everything was a blur to her. If not a workout regimen, this was the most intense training she had ever undergone; impossible to be done with her chest bindings. Instead, she had taken them off and wrapped them around her knuckles to lessen the blows against her fists when they spared against one another.

As she leaned up from her bed, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and turned to face herself once again. She crossed her arms over her breasts, hiding herself from view as she eyed her body up and down at the bruises on her fare and pale skin. She couldn't count them, unsure of what bruises were one or two.

She turned to look along her back at the marks along her shoulders and the small of her back. She was proud of every one of them. Proud she could stand up again, in training at least, like Sebastian. Each of them she was proud to have received to have been able to go toe to toe with him and come out on top. All except one.

As her eyes glanced along her backside, one bruise stood out among the rest. While the others were yellow and green and finer shades of purple, this one was dark and offset to the rest. It stood out the most along her body. She lowered one of her hands and ran her fingertips gently along the curvature of it along the upper and lower section of the mark on the right cheek of her backside. She smiled at it. He had given this one to her. This was his mark to her. In time, it would fade with the others, but she liked this one. He had marked her like she had marked him. Or was it Volf that had marked Yamato? She didn't know. Wolves loved to bite it seemed.

Yamato ran Naoto's tongue along her lips in enjoyment of the observation of the mark. Naoto smiled and turned back around to look at herself. Her first instinct was to draw her hands up to her breasts again, but instead she pulled them back down to her sides and looked at herself; really looked. She wasn't looking at the same woman she had seen a few months ago as she had slept in Sebastian's bed after their altercation in the shadow world which first introduced Yamato to Volf. She was different now; almost a stranger.

Her hands moved to her stomach, ignoring the bruises, to touch along the muscles she had begun to develop. There was definition now along her abdominals. She turned to her side and admired herself, no longer needing to suck in her stomach in even the slightest, pleased with her figure. She tensed her legs and flexed her arms, drawing her elbows back to her sides, her arms perpendicular to her body. She looked good. Fit.

Sebastian's training was changing her, molding her into something different. Not a weapon, but an agent; an agent of Reign-Beaux perhaps. She smiled at the idea and relaxed her body as she walked into the bathroom. She could run ten miles at top speed now before her hands started to shake. Twenty before she would collapse. Yamato and Sebastian were changing her. Strangely enough, she welcomed the change.

She wondered how far Chie could run before she got tired. That was prideful thinking.

Shaking her head, Naoto climbed into the shower to wash the blood, grass, and dirt off of her body. It had been a few weeks since she had been without Sebastian even for a little while. As she stared through the translucent glass of the shower door, her mind wondered back to him. The way he danced when they fought, the way Volf's growls resonated inside her head when they clashed in the back yard, the way Yamato giggled when they wrestled on the ground during combat training. Perhaps she…

She shook her head of the thought. It was too early to determine what she really felt with Sebastian; still uncertain if what she was feeling was her own or Yamato's. Being around one another was complicated for the two of them. There was a job to be done, a murderer to stop. However, even with that in mind, it was hard to keep their hands off of one another. Sebastian would use that to his advantage and use the physical contact in training as their start off when Yamato would want to mount her wolf. As before, complicated.

Naoto could finally breathe a sigh of relief as the hot water ran down along her bruised skin. Staring at her feet, she watched the clear water turn to pink and then red before finally returning to clear. She watched the small blades of grass fall from her body and run down her legs as she washed her hair and would occasionally scratch a small pebble or piece of wood off of her skin. What a month.

Usually, she would have felt exhausted from all the training and, to be sure, she was exhausted. But it was different this time. She wanted to fight with him more. She wanted to train more. But Sebastian had stated quite clearly that he wanted to be alone for the evening. And as Naoto dried herself off, their moment together earlier returned to her.

"I need to take the rest of the evening to myself, Naoto"

"Must I go?"

"I am afraid so. I have things to do tonight. Preparations to make."

"Those preparations wouldn't have anything to do with tomorrow, would they?"

"I cannot confirm or deny such a claim"

Naoto had smiled at that

"No fair"

Naoto wrapped a towel around herself as she stepped from the shower to dry off. She had her own preparations to make for tomorrow. She too would be busy this evening.

After a quick dry off and a change of clothes, she made her way downstairs into the kitchen, turning on the stove. She had wanted to stay with him even though she had known that she needed to get home for this. She had her own responsibilities to attend to. She went for the cupboards above the sink, pulling down a bag of chocolates and setting them down on the counter before rummaging through the shelf near the kitchen door for a cook book.

She found the one she was looking for and flipped through the pages for the section she was looking for. It had been so long since she had bothered to try and make food for someone else; especially when it came down to something like this. Dedication, patience, professionalism. These were the traits she needed to discipline herself in for the next few hours. Whatever Sebastian was working on, she needed to make sure that what she was going to present him with was just as exquisite as he was going to give her. She knew he was all about professionalism.

She opened the bag of chocolates and emptied the contents into the pot on the stove, waiting for the chocolate to melt. She took a deep breath.

"Ok, Naoto, just like before. Remember who this is for."

Sebastian sat quietly at the kitchen table, staring at the rice cooker on the counter, waiting for it to be done. He wasn't certain he was doing this right and checked his laptop again. Nope. He was following the recipe to the letter. Volf growled inside his head

'You know, she is going to try and match us in quality…'

"I know. Which means I have to try harder to make this good. It's not enough to match. I refuse for it to be anything less than wonderful."

'It's a little simplistic, isn't it?'

"It is, but it's not about us. It wouldn't be about us even if we were back home."

'I'm nervous'

"So am I. Never spent it with a girl before…"

In time, Sebastian had prepared the dish he would be presenting to Naoto tomorrow on the countertop. He ran the kitchen knife along it, cutting a section of it off and slipping it into his mouth to taste it. He closed his eyes to savor the simple dish and sat back down in his seat at the kitchen table. Volf growled quietly in his head as he too enjoyed it.

After a moment, he swallowed the mouthful and opened his eyes again with a happy little sigh.

"No. We try again…"

He pulled the garbage can out from under the sink and dumped the dish into it to try again. Preparing another few cups of rice, he glanced into the living room at the box on the coffee table, smiling at it. He hoped it would be good for her.

As the rice began to cook, he departed from the kitchen and moved into his bedroom to rummage through a few articles of clothing in his closet. When his hands finally found the material he was looking for, he unhooked it from its hanger and stood in front of the mirror of the dresser, pulling it up to his neck, not wanting to put it on.

"I hope I don't look foolish tomorrow…"

'I hope she gets the point…'

"She won't, trust me on that"

'As long as she doesn't think it's too strange, we should be fine.'

"Agreed"

With another small smile, Sebastian set the article of clothing down on the dresser, folding it nicely before heading back into the kitchen

'I can no longer sleep soundly in Yamato's arms with Naoto being gone, so I wouldn't expect too much sleep tonight'

"I hadn't planned on it. Not until this meal is done properly so I can recreate it tomorrow"

Sebastian unbuttoned his jacket and slipped it around the top of one of the chairs in the kitchen before turning back to his work.

The next day had been quiet for the most part. Naoto had sent Sebastian several different texts and tried calling him. None of her attempts had made it through. Instead she sat in her kitchen, the small wrapped box resting on the kitchen table as she sat, waiting for something. She felt foolish.

At the very least, she should have asked if he was willing to do anything today. It was special. She should have asked beforehand if he was available to do anything; or if he even wanted to. In hindsight, it was a little foolish to assume anything.

Standing from her seat at the table, she left her cup of coffee and went for her fridge for some more milk before stopping to look at the new calendar. She lifted a few pages back to September. She smiled looking at the date Sebastian arrived before moving to October. They could have done something for Halloween. She was disappointed at that. She wasn't one for Halloween, but if she had known then what she knew now, she could only imagine what Sebastian would have wanted to do.

She flipped to November and remembered him in the hospital, moving quickly to December. She smiled at Christmas and New Year's before flipping to January. A month long training session that, when she thought back to it, made her smile even when she thought back to the bruises and strikes they had made against each other. She then flipped to February, her eyes stopping at today's date. February 14th. The loneliest day of the year for so many.

A little while ago, she would have been fine spending today alone. But this year was different. It wasn't like high school when she had spent the day with Souji by the beach.

She felt her shoulders slump at the memory. It had been such a lovely time with him. To spend time with her friends at school and the boy she loved. Her mind crossed to Sebastian as she snapped from her memory and focused on the page.

She had been alone on this day for three years. Not this time. This time was going to be different. She hoped.

When her cellphone vibrated in her breast pocket, she practically jumped as it broke her concentration before retrieving it. From Sebastian.

**Chastity, Sebastian**

Valentine's day? Y/N

She sent her response before grabbing the chocolates from the table and headed out the door, grabbing her helmet from the closet before leaving.

When she arrived at Sebastian's place of residence, her face stung from the cold. Her hands were shaking and she was chilled and shivering. At least she was where she wanted to be, at last.

She knocked on the front door. No response came from inside. She knocked again to the same lack of response. She rang the doorbell twice; still nothing. Why send a text if he wasn't home? She looked through the glass of the front door. She couldn't see him. She couldn't hear him.

"Yamato?"

'I don't sense Volf nearby'

Naoto tried the doorknob. The door was unlocked. She was quick to step inside and lock the door behind her. He wasn't home. She took a quick look around the bottom floor, checking his room and bathroom before heading back into the foyer.

"Sebastian?"

No response

'Table'

Naoto glanced into the living room at the large flat box that resided on top of it. On approach, she undid her jacket and folded it over one of the chairs in the kitchen.

The box was long and thin. A box for cloths. A large red bow was along the upper right corner of it covering a small note. It was his handwriting. It was addressed to her. She spoke the words aloud.

"A soldier needs a uniform. I'm waiting for you inside."

Her head snapped up as she looked at the television. Did he really go in alone? No one should ever go inside alone. She stood up quickly to approach the television but Yamato stopped her, slowing her legs.

'open the box'

"Yamato, we don't have time for this. He could be in danger"

'Open. The. Box'

Naoto turned back to the box and opened it, pulling the red ribbon wrapped around the white case free and letting it drop to the ground before she pulled the top off of it.

She was unsure of what she was looking at. Was it a joke? And still, there was something familiar about it. Naoto pulled the jacket from the box and shook it to straighten it. She ran her fingers along the white material and along the tall collar. She held the small gold like clasps between her fingers, unhooking them to open the coat up. She glanced down into the box and along the navy blue bodysuit within the box, black gloves folded up neatly along the side of the suit.

She had a feeling, but was still unsure until she glanced at the wrapped long object also contained within the box. Setting the jacket down, she reached for the object and drew it from its wrapping. The white shiny material reflected the light of the room as she moved it, her mouth going dry. A sword. Her sword. Yamato's sword.

"This is Master Daidara's craftsmanship…"

Naoto grabbed the scabbard in one hand and the hilt of the sword in the other, unsheathing the blade for the first time. It was perfect. Glancing along the blade, she noticed that it had been sharpened with expert hands. Running her thumb across the blade, she could feel its razor's edge.

'It's me…'

Naoto glanced down at the uniform again, sheathing the sword. It was her. It was Yamato's uniform. Gloves, boots, belt… Sebastian had Yamato's uniform crafted for her.

'Put it on'

"I-I can't."

'A soldier needs a uniform. He had this made for you. Put it on and go after him'

Naoto was hesitant, but Yamato wanted it on just as much as Naoto truly did.

She closed the blinds to the living room before she began to undress. She took off her hat and tossed it onto the couch before removing her dress shirt, it quickly meeting the hat as well. Unclipping the pin, she removed the bindings from her breasts to let them relax against her body. She set the wrap on the table for later use. She removed her slacks, standing in the living room in her underwear and socks.

Stepping into the legs of the bodysuit, she was surprised how well it hugged her form as she zipped it up from the back with its long zipper chord. She took note of the white line of material that ran up either leg and under her arms. She slipped on the jacket, taking note of the shoulder pads and the flowing white strands of material that protruded from under the gold clips along her shoulders. She zipped up the front, the zipper hiding beneath a section of material near the top to hide any indication that it was there. Next she reattached the two gold chains along her breasts and midsection.

She sat down on the couch to pull up the tall black boots and pulled back tightly on the black gloves that came up to her elbows. Standing up, she attached the white belt around her hips before sliding the scabbard of her sword into its belt clip.

She wasn't sure if she felt good or stupid.

Slowly, she made her way into the bedroom to look into the mirror on the dresser. She kept her eyes off of the mirror as she entered, her eyes focused on the floor. She closed them as she looked up, wanting to take it all in at once. And when she did, it stole her breath.

She was Yamato without the helmet. She had no white flowing cape, but other than that, she fit the uniform perfectly. She reached up and pulled down at her jacket to straighten it, the jacket coming down to just below her ribs. It showed off her form perfectly.

Why was she making that face?

Her small expression of amazement was erased from her face and was replaced with a rush of confidence that swept through her and tightened her mouth. She grabbed the sword at her side and drew it from its sheath, taking the blade in her right hand and gripping it tightly.

'You forgot the put on your bindings…'

Naoto took a step closer to herself in the mirror, no longer afraid of what it showed her. No longer concerned of what she was or even cared anymore. Maybe, this is who she was always meant to be. She was almost certain of it. It had taken a man she did not quite fully understand to show her that. A boy and his wolf.

Her sword still drawn, she turned, heading back into the living room. She grabbed the bandages and folded them several times in her hand before wrapping it around her blade and slicing the material into several pieces. Her hand gripped her sword tighter.

"Never again…"

Yamato smiled inside of Naoto as she walked towards the television, placing her hand inside

'Wait!'

"What is it?"

'The chocolate…'

The confidence was short lived as Naoto sheathed her sword and bit her tongue, embarrassed at her newfound sense of courage and just forgetting what she had been up all night making.

'Take two, sweetheart…'

"Yea…"

When Naoto landed in the sand, she bent her knees, rolling to let her legs take most of the force. She kept her hand on the hilt of her sword, careful to make sure that if any shadows were present that she could deal with them should they find the urge to attack. At first glance, it was clear.

Naoto stepped out of the sandbox and onto the black tarmac, careful of her surroundings as she glanced about. Her left hand clutched the box of sweets tightly. If Sebastian was in here, which she was certain he was, she wanted to be sure that he received them. She wasn't going to have spent all night up making them for nothing.

"**Have they arrived, Volf?"**

'**Just landed'**

Naoto wasn't sure where to go until she heard the boom of thunder and looked up to the buildings ahead as a blast of lightning shoot into the sky. It would have seemed that Volf was out to play. Naoto felt Yamato smile through her and she licked her lips, loving to play with her little wolf.

Naoto began to walk towards where the strike had happened, making her way into the distant city and its tall office buildings, skyscrapers, and stores. It was a section of the shadow world she had never seen. But then again, she was certain there were lots of places in this world that she had never seen. She was unsure of how vast it was, let alone how deep or high it went. She was certain though that the waves in the sky were as tall as the world went.

She also wondered about the origin of this place. This city. This playground. During the previous investigation, each member of the team had spent their first moments in this world in their own little section. Each section had been representative of a truth or objectification or assumption about the person; even hers. Could this section of city and playground have been Sebastian's?

It wasn't as hard an idea to grasp as she would have thought. Her lab had been a massive underground labyrinth. Who was to say that this particular section wasn't Sebastian's little home away from home? At the same time she wondered this, she wondered why it would have mattered. It wasn't as though she was going to be able to understand it. This was the shadow world after all, very little made sense.

Naoto looked up with another boom of electricity that shot into the sky off of one of the buildings. She could see Volf from where she stood; his hulking body standing atop a towering structure. She waved at him, signaling she knew where to go.

'**You look ridiculous, Sebastian'**

"**I know. But that it sort of the point"**

'**You would look nicer if I didn't know who you are'**

Naoto felt a small breeze pick up and her wheel of fortune card came into view, Yamato wanting to be summoned. Naoto obliged and drew her sword, cutting the card with a shatter of glass that echoed in her ears as the soldier formed behind her as she walked as though in lockstep. No shadows still. Good.

When Naoto made it to the base of the tall building, she looked up into the sky, looking at the large wolf leering down at them from the rooftop, standing upon the edge of the building. Naoto walked through the automatic doors with Yamato in tow, the large persona leaning down to get under the doors. She headed for the elevator, pushing the button to go up.

"Why would he come all the way up here to invite me? Why come into the shadow world?"

Yamato stayed quiet, leaning her head down again as she entered the elevator, crouching down in order to fit inside the small box. Naoto rested her left arm on the hilt of her sword, swinging it gently back and forth as she watched the number which indicated which floor they were on continue to climb. 35….40….45…50…55…60. She could feel how high they were, physically feel it. She watched the number hit floor 65 before they came to a stop.

As Naoto stepped out onto the floor, her boots broke glass at her feet. She drew her sword and Yamato crawled from the elevator, drawing her own. The floor was a mess. Broken glass and destroyed walls, ripped up carpeting. She took a few steps onto the floor, looking at the dried blood on the carpet. Whatever had happened here was over now. Whatever had happened had been over for a long time. The damage remained. She kept her sword unsheathed.

When the music of a violin reached her ears, she picked up her pace, jogging to the end of the room to the stairwell which led up to the roof. She climbed the two flights of stairs, Yamato keeping close behind her to follow her counterpart until they reached the roof.

In the middle of the roof was a table set for two. Red tablecloth, candles, wine, chopsticks; it looks right up Sebastian's alley. She felt the side of her mouth tug in a smirk. The turned quickly at the growl behind her, sword at the ready as she looked up into Volf's eyes who sat crouched above the stairwell. His tail flipped for a moment when he glanced at Yamato.

Naoto sheathed her sword and turned to the sound of the music again, confused. The woman in front of her stood on the edge of the building, violin pressed against her neck as she played. Her black hair was a little messy, but was pulled back behind her head in a small ponytail, just starting to develop. Her black dress hugged her form nicely and showed what curves she had. She didn't understand; until she saw the large scar along her back between her shoulder blades, exposed from the open back of the dress.

"Sebastian?"

The music stopped after another moment and the figure turned, smiling at her.

"I'm glad you got my text, Mister Shirogane. I was uncertain if I would just be playing until night and my whole plan would be ruined."

Naoto was confused but could only stare at him. He was wearing makeup. He…actually looked like he could pass for a girl with how he had done it.

"Why…are you wearing a dress?"

"Sit. Please"

Naoto was slow on approach but eventually made her way to the table, sitting on the opposite side of…Sebastian.

"Are you planning to explain this to me?"

He smiled at her, leaning on one of his hands.

"You look good in uniform…"

"Sebastian…I'm really confused and it's making me uncomfortable…"

He smiled a little brighter and bit his tongue to make it go away. Was he wearing lipstick or gloss?

"I'm trying to make a point, Naoto. I was hoping I could make it clear, but I suppose not…"

Sebastian nodded his head at Volf who slid down from his spot, approaching Yamato. The two personas stared at one another for a moment before Volf dropped to one knee, hands at his sides. Yamato embraced his head with one arm and drew it against her chest, stroking the top of his head with the other gloved hand. The beasts yellow eyes closed slowly and he let out a quiet murr as his hands came up to wrap themselves around Yamato, holding her against him. Or was he holding himself against her? It was difficult to tell who was in charge sometimes with those two.

Naoto turned her attention back to Sebastian, still not used to seeing him like this. He played with one of his bracelets. He was convincing, but she knew it was him. That made it awkward.

"I have a hard time speaking my feelings, Naoto. Information is one thing, feelings are another. I have a hard time putting words to them…"

"…why are you in a dress?"

"I'm trying to get to that…"

Sebastian pulled the top from the wine bottle and poured himself half a glass, pouring Naoto a drink as well. She noticed his hands were shaking. He was nervous.

"You aren't…into this sort of things…are you?"

Sebastian shook his head with a smile.

"Not a chance. You know I prefer a suit. I'm just having difficulty"

He swallowed hard

"I…really like you…Naoto. I like you a lot. And that's…scary to me. I put this dress on as a symbol and I'm trying to convey it…"

He was quiet for a moment, several times trying to speak but stopping at first noise.

"I…don't want you to change…"

For whatever reason, that sentence gave Naoto pause. It was a little emotionally shaky.

"I know why you dress up like a man. I understand it. And…"

"G…go on…"

Sebastian stood from his seat and came around to her side, getting down on his knee. Naoto was taken aback by it

"You aren't going to…"

Sebastian shook his head and tried to speak again.

"I…don't want you to be…anything…less…than what you are. With all of your…perfections…**and** imperfections…I don't want you to be anything but what you want to be…"

Sebastian, struggling with his words, stood from her and walked back to the edge of the building, looking out over the black and red wavy horizon.

"I don't want you to change from who you are. I don't want you to try to do anything or be anything you aren't"

He stared down at his hands, pulling the bracelet off and playing with it between his fingers.

"Your whole life you have been portraying a detective of fiction. But you are that detective, Naoto. You are the cool, smart, unstoppable detective of your books. And I don't want you to be anything but that. I want you to do whatever you feel is right, dress how you feel you should dress, act and sound and believe exactly how you want to…"

He smiled, turning half way to look at her.

"I remember you told me that Souji said he liked you voice higher…that he wanted to see you in a girls uniform rather than a boys…"

He shook his head, staring back down at the bracelet

"I don't ever want to ask that of you. I want you to be whoever you want to be. I mean…it's going to be a shame that in the future you will become less shy around me, which I regret because I love your shy side, and you won't be so afraid of speaking up and out, which is a shame because I like your timid side…and when we make love…you won't be as submissive…which is a shame because I like that about you…but I am ok with that…"

He turned to look at her

"I just want you to be you around me…"

Naoto stood from her spot slowly, her legs shaking slightly as she approached him. When she finally got to him, she wrapped her arms around him, holding him tightly, squeezing him with all she could as if to draw him inside of her. That had actually been rather sweet

"I put on this dress because I wanted you to know that I don't feel that you are being foolish when you dress like a man. That I won't judge you based on it. I don't want you to be anything but you…"

Naoto turned him around and kissed him gently. He smiled a little when she stood on her toes to get a little higher and he wrapped his arms around her, kissing her back. Dedication, loyalty, honesty, he was that wolf as much as she was that soldier.

Yamato hugged Volf's large head tighter, the beast letting out a happy murr; a strange thing to be coming out of that beast: happiness.

Sebastian smiled a bit and broke the kiss, running his palms along her cheeks to dry them

"Come now. I can't have you crying over lunch. It will be so very awkward. The uniform looks good on you…"

She smiled and followed him back to the table, sitting opposite him. With him, she removed the lid from her lunch and smiled down at the simple dish.

"Yamato told me they were your favorite. I stayed up all night trying to get it right."

Naoto smiled and picked up her set of chopsticks, picking up one of the several pieces in front of her

"Is it really that difficult to make California rolls?"

"Of course not. But making them for someone you care about…different story"

Naoto set the piece down on her plate rather than eating it. She pushed the small box of chocolates across the table, her shyness coming out again as she looked down at her plate. There was no hat to hide her eyes.

"I made these for you…I hope you enjoy them…"

Sebastian opened the box, looking down with a smile at the assortment of chocolates, each decorated differently with a little handmade flower or stripes that she had personally and carefully decorated.

"Volf told me you hate white chocolate…"

"That's because it's not chocolate. It's a sin"

She smiled a little as she looked up to him. He closed the box.

"Um…aren't you going to eat one?"

"I'll eat one after lunch. We can share them"

"I…made them for you…"

"I know; but I want to share them with you. I want to share a lot of things. I know here in the east that this day is all about the boys…but in the west it's about couples. I can't be that selfish."

Sebastian raised his glass

"Happy Valentine's day, Detective Shirogane"

"Happy Valentine's day, Detective Chastity"

-**clink**-


	33. Chapter 33

Naoto bit down on the bed sheet as she felt a moan expel from her lips. Her hands gripped the sheets tighter in her fingers and she took a deep breath, the sheet falling from her lips again on the intake.

"Oh my.."

Naoto pressed her face down in the sheets again, trying to stifle her uneven breathing and small moans

"Harder…"

Naoto felt her while body tighten and her eyes fluttered closed

"That feels so good… How are you so good at this?"

Sebastian smiled as he pressed his fingertips a little harder along the sole of her right foot which caused her to bite the sheet again. Naoto relaxed against the bed, her hands reaching down to straighten her uniform jacket and pull up on her belt. Sebastian rolled the material a little higher below her knees before he went back to her massage.

"We all have our own little interests in the human body, Naoto. Mine just happen to be a little lower than others would have been."

She smiled as she reveled in the attention as his fingers pressed into the muscles of her feet and rubbed the tension away from the lowest part of her body.

"Mmm…I should have known about this earlier. It's delightful"

He smiled and pulled her a little higher on him.

Naoto smiled into the bed as she lay on her stomach, her legs up along Sebastian's chest as he lay on his back, her legs drawn up onto his chest. He kissed along the sole of her left foot which caused her toes to curl and draw back slightly. She was ticklish. He leaned down to kiss again but the doorbell broke the concentration from his work.

He was happy to hear the bell. At least he would have one other person to rely on.

Standing up from the bed, he let Naoto sit quietly as she put her socks back on as he made his way into the hall to get the door. He looked at himself in the mirror and straightened his jacket and pulled up on his tie before opening the door to the faces of his allies.

He glanced at the faces. Teddie, Yukiko, Chie, Yosuke, and Kanji.

"So…you all decided to come…"

Kanji scratched the back of his head

"Look, Seb, we live here. This is our town."

Chie stuck her fist into her open palm

"No one fucks with my town"

Sebastian smiled at them

"I'm glad you are all here. Hopefully you will be of assistance. I would hate for this to be all for not. I can't imagine the outcome if things don't fall into place perfectly…"

He invited them all into his home, instructing them to keep their shoes on. It wasn't as though they were going to be there for much longer. Sebastian noticed their weaponry as they walked on. The spiked gauntlet at Teddie's side, the fan at Yukiko's, the Kunai, the folding chair, the leg plates…she was right. They all had their own little method of work and fighting.

Naoto came from the bedroom in her uniform, a few dry eyes glancing at her in her new attire. She slid her sword into its respectful slot along her hip and secured it tightly. Kanji felt his mouth falling open. Chie was able to stammer out first

"Jeez, Naoto-kun. Looking sharp"

"Looking good, Nao-chan. Beary cool"

Naoto looked to Kanji

"Thank you, Kanji-san. This has been an experience."

"Y-yea. Sure, Naoto. Glad you like it"

Sebastian, having left the group to get his gloves, returned to them, slipping them on his hands and securing his fingers to their claws.

"Before we leave, I want you to all know that I appreciate this and what you are doing. I know that I am asking a lot of you. This is no small order even for the likes of us. I and Reign-beaux would like to thank you for your assistance. In return, when this case is solved and closed, you will all be compensated for your efforts…"

Sebastian swallowed hard

"But I am sure none of you are interested in that right now. I can't imagine how fast your hearts must be pounding."

Kanji looked down

"I haven't been able to eat anything all day…"

Yukiko cleared her throat

"I haven't slept in two days…"

Sebastian nodded at them

"I am sure this is hard on all of you. But today will decide the fate of this case. No more goofing off. Once we get in there, it's all on us. There will be no backup or parades or surprise returns of friends of co-workers. It's all on us. If you want out, this is your last chance…"

When no one said anything, Sebastian smiled at them

"Thank you. All of you. I will make it my responsibility to make sure you all come out of this safely. Understand? If things start to get too difficult for you, get out. Come back alive. Understand?"

Naoto nodded followed quickly by the group.

"Shall we?"

Yosuke was first through the television followed quickly by Chie. The rest followed until it was just Naoto and Sebastian. Sebastian put his hand inside the screen but was pulled back quickly by Naoto.

"Wait-"

Naoto looked down for a moment before she leaned in to kiss him, her gloves arms wrapping tightly around him. He kissed her back, his lips trembling. She needed to speak

"I'm terrified"

Sebastian nodded

"So am I. It took me eighteen minutes this morning to brush my teeth…"

"Sebastian…I don't want to lose you…"

Sebastian pulled her arms from him and gripped her hands tightly in his claws.

"You won't. I promise you we will be ok. Alright? Just stick to your training"

"You're hands are shaking…"

"I'm terrified…"

Naoto kissed him again before she slid into the television. Sebastian stood for a moment in his living room, glancing about at the room for a moment. He had the strangest feeling that if he returned here, he wouldn't be seeing things the same way as when he went in. He regretted that

'One step at a time, Sebastian. I'll be here to guide you just as I always have…'

"I know, Volf. Just keep me conscious. I'll be fine"

Sebastian croutched down and slid into the television, closing his eyes tightly to stifle his little cry of fear before he hit the sand and rolled onto all fours. His knees stung a bit from the landing. That was going to cost him in the long run. He needed to summon Volf early to recover before the fight.

"Naoto. I need to summon Volf. Can you watch out for me?"

Naoto nodded and looked to her friends

"Circle him while he summons his persona. It takes a toll on his body."

The group formed around Sebastian as he kneeled down and then leaned onto his hands as the red light formed around him. He grit his teeth and coughed a few times almost in a violent fit as the translucent form pulled and pried itself off his body to stand. Curiosity got the better of their friends and they watched in a slight horror as it formed off of him, growing and thrashing as it took shape until the large beast towered over them.

Volf growled down at them all, turning its head about as it glanced about them, staring through them at their personas and snapping its jaws. Its fur bristled and its lips pulled back to expose its razor teeth. A few of the members of the investigation team took several steps back and drew their weapons.

Volf glanced to Kanji and took a step towards him, Yosuke crossing his kunai in front of him, ready to attempt to defend himself against this beast. Volf took another with a small chuckle but stopped when Naoto stood in front of him, her arms open.

"Stay away from him, Volf."

Volf snarled and growled quietly as he kneed down to the girl

"We all know you are the big dog here. Alright? Focus on the problem at hand…"

Volf took a deep breath and stood back up, bowing his head to her.

Naoto ran her hand along his leg

"Good boy…"

Sebastian fell back onto the sand and wiped the blood from his nose with the back of his hand

"V…Volf. Get me up…"

Naoto felt concern and worry begin to boil up inside her stomach when Volf helped Sebastian to his feet with a groan. He looked terrible. This must have been a harder day than usual for him. He grit his teeth as he got to his feet, stumbling back into Volf who caught him.

"I'm ok…I'm ok"

"Yo, Seb"

Sebastian drew a handkerchief from his breast pocket and drew it under his nose to catch what blood he could as he turned his attention to Yosuke.

"That the hell is that?"

"Everyone, this is Volf. My own little issue and voice in my head"

Yukiko approached carefully, looking up at the large beast

"He doesn't look like our personas. He isn't even summoned the same way. Perhaps that's how people in the west summon them"

"That's not it, Miss Amagi. We're complicated is all."

Kanji slung his chair over his shoulder.

"You keep saying that like it's supposed to mean something to us, Seb."

"I'm sorry, Kanji, but that's all I can say. If I knew the details, I would explain them. But I don't think you would understand if I tried to explain it"

Naoto knew that was a lie. Sebastian had been hiding the truth behind Volf from the beginning. She wasn't going to press it. Volf was his problem and he was going to deal with it his way.

"Come on. We shouldn't be killing time…"

The walk towards the city district of this portion of the shadow world had been a long one. Sebastian was trying to walk off the pain of summoning his persona, and everyone else seemed to be getting slower and slower as they drew closer.

But then the vision on the horizon slowed them all to a stop. Shadows. Thousands of them. An army of gnashing teeth and claws and hands and fire. An army of monsters. But why weren't they moving? Naoto took several steps forward and all eyes seemed to be on her on approach. The streets in front of them were clear, just the side streets were blocked by the armies.

The mouths screeched and bellowed for her but they were unable to approach. The noises they made all became drowned out in laughter from Sebastian as he took several steps forward

"What's so funny?"

Sebastian pointed to the crosswalk sign.

"Don't walk"

Kanji felt a small chuckle escape his throat and Yukiko felt her lips curl before she started to go into a small laughing fit.

"Pff-fff. D-don't…hahaha. Walk"

Naoto drew her sword and changed her stance as she heard a new laugher ring upon her ears. Sebastian felt his heart drop into his stomach and his whole body break out in Goosebumps as he looked up atop one of the neighboring buildings. The figure walked into view, standing on the edge of the building, the shadows in the cross streets all turning their attention to the boy, their screams and growls growing silent till it was just his voice.

"Hello again, Detectives"

Sebastian spat out the bad taste in his mouth onto the asphalt as he watched the boy walk from one side of the building to the other in his little balancing act. He skipped a few times. Chie looked confused

"That's the kid who's been causing problems? Why not just give him a good spanking?"

Naoto wanted to spit as well but swallowed the venom. She could smell Simon now and taste him in the air like a snake. She understood Sebastian a little better now. Simon glanced at the band as he crouched down on the edge.

"Ooohh…you brought me a present, Sebastian. I would have been happy with just the two of you, but an entire party. Maybe I should have done some digging into Inaba before bringing other bodies there."

He stood back up and ran his hands through his short red hair.

"I assume that you haven't come here to simply give in to me? Shame really. I would have made it quick. Would have left Inaba alone after they found your bodies. I can't imagine the response when the find six bodies hanging closely together. It will be exciting. That's for sure..."

Yosuke screamed up at him.

"Shut the hell up! Who the hell do you think you are?"

Simon licked his lips and Yosuke felt a chill run through his body as Simon stared through him

"You…I'll eat you first…"

Sebastian took a step in front of Yosuke. Simon felt the corner of his mouth curl in disgust

"Oh right. You. I keep thinking I killed you"

Sebastian smiled up at him although his hands were shaking

"Maybe this time, Anansi"

Simon smiled at him

"So, you figured it out. We have so much to talk about. Deadlines to make though. You know where my office is, Sebastian"

Simon raised one of his hands and snapped his fingers, the shadows seeming to lurch to the noise and begin their scream again, slashing at the ground beneath their feet like animals needing to run. Naoto felt the wind around her pick up as her card floated in front of her eyes. She cut it with her sword, Yamato forming into existence and drawing her sword from its sheath. As the green lights on the road ahead of them turned to yellow, Naoto broke off into a run followed quickly by Sebastian and Volf.

The rest of the team, not as fast on understanding, picked up into a run as they all made their way towards the large building in the epicenter of the small skyscraper city. They needed to get to the building before the light changed. They weren't sure what would happen, but they did not want to be there to find out.

They ran until their lungs felt like they were going to explode and every nerve was on fire. They ran until their faces tingled and their hands shook; then they kept running.

Along the home stretch, Sebastian glanced up at the street light to watch it turn from yellow to red. It was the moment where the needle was dragged across the record, or nails were dragged down a chalkboard to get everyone's attention. If there was anything left, Sebastian used it to stop and roar through Volf as the cross lights turned green and Volf turned mid stride to drive his fist into the ground, a burst of electricity knocked several large shadows with saw like teeth away from them. Yamato cleaved three in half and the group gathered behind the two personas as the walls of black spilled in on them from both sides, the mass of hands and claws flooding over them, blotting out the red and black sky.

Kanji swung his chair and smashed a particularly large shadow to the pavement before driving the edge along its neck, the shadow falling still and fading into nothingness. He smiled at his card as it floated above his head and he smacked it with his chair, as a quick moving boar like shadow jumped off the back of another to try and pounce Kanji from behind.

He stumbled forward from the impact of the blow behind him and turned to see the beast impaled upon the ground by the sharp tip of a rather large lightning bolt drew itself from the body, guided by the large white hand of his metal skeleton painted persona, Take-Mikazuchi.

The large robot drove the lightning bolt into the concrete at its feet, the rod beginning to glow as the automaton drove both its fists to either side of the lightning bolt sword, a large arc of electricity cascading off into the sea of black, crippling, killing, and maiming all it touched.

"You tryin' to mess with me? Think I'm afraid of any of you?!"

Several of the shadows leapt onto Volf and knocked him off his feet, biting into the wolfs fur and skin causing it to howl and tear at the shadows, ripping them apart with its bare hands as it killed it's attackers. Sebastian stumbled but was caught by Yukiko as he fell forward and was brought to rest on his knees.

"I can't deal with the damage. I'm still weak from the summon."

Yukiko crossed her fan in front of her when a horse like shadow with a large serrated horn on its head, broke from the pack and charged them. Her card floated in the air in front of her and she swiped at it with her fan. The horse barreled down on them with its head down to impale, but Yukiko swiped the air in front of her with her fan, a large arc of flame followed the same arc and lapped against the horse, the beast disintegrating in the immense heat as it would have rushed into them, only the hot wind of the previous beasts speed touching them.

Above them, the red and pink winged Konohana Sakuya, drew back its hand from the flame attack to glance down at her wielder. Yukiko smiled up at her persona and waved, the large bird like woman bowing her head gracefully. Drawing its hands together, the creature began to glow with a faint green light which poured down onto Sebastian and his wolf. The beast snarled as it glanced about, the pain becoming more bearable before leaving entirely and its wounds closing.

Sebastian felt better and stood back up, whispering a quiet thank you to the persona. A healer. Convenient.

Konohana Sakuya and Yukiko let out a quiet scream as a large peacock like shadow jumped off the backs of several others before leaping up and colliding with the persona, the red dancer falling to the ground hard with the beast biting and clawing at its back.

Yukiko began to writhe as she felt the pain stab into her and she screamed several times. The peacock reeled its large long metallic beak back to stab at the red healer again but the white boot of Tomoe Gozen, Chie's persona, struck the beast, the bird flipping to the side in a corkscrew before hitting the ground. It struggled to get back up, not sure what had transpired.

"Who the hell do you think you are? You stay the hell away from her"

The warrior persona, clad in yellow and white, spun it's double ended glaive as it dashed towards the downed peacock. The beast shook its head to clear the fog before it ran at the persona, its head slipping under the glaive as it swung to behead the monster. The beast leaned it's head back around to pierce the persona but Tomoe Gozen drove it's boot back into the beasts head again, the metallic ping of the metal beak on the boot reverberating off the glass of the closer buildings before it finally came to a stop with the glaive finding it's mark and beheading the shadow, the head bursting in a plume of black and fading away before it hit the ground.

Chie rushed to Yukiko's side to help her friend up to sit, holding her close

"Are you ok, Yukiko? Tell me you're ok"

Yukiko was a bit hesitant but forced herself to her feet

"I'm fine, Chie. Just a little shaken"

A burst from one of Volf's attacks knocked Chie and Yukiko away from the group and into the sea of shadows. Several of the faster responding beasts turned their attention to the two women before charging at them with teeth gnashing and claws scraping. Chie held Yukiko tightly and screamed with her eyes closed until a rush of wind, which scared her more than the shadows, forced her to open her eyes.

The shadows that had charged them now screamed as blades of gold cut along their bodies in a spinning barrier around the two. Yosuke had dived into the sea after them and had summoned his persona Jiraiya. The spinning blades that circled around them finished a few more rounds before flying back to the hands of the white and camouflaged being which could have only been described to Sebastian as a disco frog. He wasn't quite sure what he was looking at.

The persona threw it's red scarf over its shoulders and threw out the large golden shuriken on its hands towards the girls again as they ran their way back into the group, Yosuke cutting and slashing at the shadows that reached for them before they reformed. Chie and Yukiko hugged him tightly for his attempt. He had put his life on the line for them.

Yamato performed several wide slashes with her sword, a small silver arc of white being casted off her sword to slice through the sea in front of them. But no matter how many attacks they made, the shadows kept pushing them tighter together and further back. They were trapped.

As the sea seemed to rise up against them, Teddie screamed and the air grew cold, each member seeing their own breath. The group fell back against one another in a small circle as a large wall of ice erupted around them and forced the sea back, giving them a moments reprieve against the tide of claws and teeth. The fat persona of the boy, Kintoki-Douji, fell to the ground with a bounce, scratching the back of its head, pleased with itself that it had helped. The red and yellow persona, upon seeing Volf, stood up and threw its blue cape back, putting it's hard on its hips.

Sebastian was having a hard time dealing with the concept of the persona. This…**this.**...had been what it had sensed when he had first met Teddie. He did not know what he was feeling. On the one hand, it had just given them the moment they needed to regroup. On the other hand….**this**?

Chie sighed

"Wow…thanks Teddie. Quick thinking"

"I just wanted everyone to stop fighting for a minute. Everyone was just jumping into danger; I kind of just froze up. Panicked. Did the only thing I could think of. I needed time for my bear brain to catch up to what everyone was doing"

Naoto walked up a section of the ice wall that surrounded them, knocking on it with the back of her fist. She closed her eyes, drawing one side of her head to the ice, listening

"The ice won't hold them for long, I'm afraid. We need to move or we will become overrun"

Sebastian pulled back tightly on his gloves

"Shadows are instinctive creatures. If we can bring down Simon, they should fall into place"

"Agreed. But we need to deal with a bigger pest in the meantime."

As if on cue, there came a screech that pierced the sky and the shadows seemed to grow silent and still at the noise. Sebastian turned to the source of the noise as the large black spider crawled its way along one side of the building, its large sharp legs driven into the building to keep it up. It looked bigger than Sebastian remembered and he felt his hands start to shake again. Naoto was awestruck at the monster.

Chie felt sick to her stomach at the sight of it, bugs never being something she could tolerate. Kanji felt his legs start to shake when it screeched again

"W-What the hell is that thing?!"

Naoto grit her teeth at the beast, furious alongside Yamato for it daring to hurt Volf and in turn Sebastian.

"That's **our** problem. When the ice breaks, they are going to flood inside. Do you think you are all capable enough to handle the shadows?"

Yosuke slid on his headphones

"We'll buy you guys enough time to swat the bothersome bug"

Sebastian pulled back on his gloves

"If we all make it out of this, dinner is on me"

Chie cracked her knuckles

"Damn right it is. You just take care of yourselves. Got it? You take care of Naoto for us"

The ice along the wall began to crack from the clawing that had resumed. Naoto readied her sword and Sebastian pulled back at his tie, loosening it.

"Ready, Sebastian?"

He swallowed hard and suppressed the tremor in his voice

"Ready"

Naoto followed quickly behind Sebastian as he dashed ahead of her. The ice shattered as Sebastian approached but the shadows that tried to crawl inside the bottleneck were quickly cut down. Sebastian and Naoto ducked as the fine slashes of blue crossed over their heads as Yamato swung her sword and cleared the way for the two to move ahead towards the building which Anansi was clung to.

As they ran, Naoto swung at the sea of black that flooded towards her, cutting down Shadows with expert precision. Sebastian fell to all fours and tore off after the few that got in his way, slashing at eyes and throats as he ran towards the building. Faster. They needed to go faster.

"Volf, put the pressure on my lungs. I need to run faster!"

Volf snarled as he followed behind him, drawing his sword and aiding at keeping the larger shadows off of Sebastian. He didn't want to hurt his vessel, but he had no choice. The building was their safe zone. The large wolf glanced to Yamato after she cleaved the head off of a large praying mantis like shadow and they nodded to one another. They needed to push the bodies of their wielders a little further.

Naoto felt the pain in her chest stretch across her whole body as she ran and she stumbled once or twice before picking up greater speed. It was amazing; and painful. She glanced to Sebastian who bit his lip as he ran head down towards the building, never looking up, never faltering. It was agony for the both of them. She refused to fall behind and kept up beside him, finding herself screaming as she ran as the chatter of teeth and screams drowned out anything else like a squeal behind her ears. She closed her eyes as she ran, keeping her head down.

The shatter of glass broke the both of them from their trance as they crashed through the glass doors of the building and rolled across the floor, the energy they had obtained from whatever it was their personas had done having completely dissipated from their bodies. They rolled almost fifteen feet before sliding across the floor and knocking against the back desk of the reception area. Naoto couldn't feel her fingertips and her whole face was tingling.

Sebastian rolled onto his back and opened the first button of his shirt. He couldn't breathe and felt his back arc as he tried to force himself to take a breath. When it didn't come, he punched himself in the diaphragm to expel whatever breath he had in his lungs before his body forced itself to take a breath. Nothing had ever tasted so sweet to him than to take that breath and he fell limp against the marble floor, panting loudly, trying to get his heartbeat from thundering in his ears.

Naoto slowly made her way to her hands and knees. She wanted to vomit but it would not come. She turned her attention to Sebastian before she rolled onto her back, trying to breathe and calm herself, the pain in her lungs disappearing

"What….what was that?"

Sebastian smiled through his quick deep breaths

"That. Was. Something. New. For. You."

He forced himself to roll over and tried to get to his knees.

"When…"

He coughed almost violently and reached into his mouth, pulling a piece of glass from it, tossing it across the room

"Your persona influenced the way your body breathes at the cost of pain from the abnormality."

He forced his shaking legs to stand him up and he fell back against the desk

"You can…you can have your body forced to do something it normally doesn't through the influence of your persona. In this case, it stretched our lungs and put more pressure on our bodies in order to give our muscles the air we needed to move faster. Only recommended in small doses, or emergencies"

Naoto forced herself to stand and faltered, falling against the wall and sliding down it to her knees. She needed a minute or she was going to pass out.

"That…was amazing"

Sebastian wanted to smile, but he was too tired

"Imagine what could be done with training?"

After a few moments, Naoto realized that they were ok. She had been too hung up on the moment that she hadn't realized no shadows were attacking. She glanced over her shoulder as she fixed her collar at the shadows at the doorway. They wanted into the building, but refused to enter. She was almost certain she understood why

"They are afraid of wondering into the domain of a superior hunter…"

She glanced around

"Where are Yamato and Volf?"

A split moment before impact, Yamato had taken flight and arced into the sky, flying up the side of the building towards the large black spider and it's chattering teeth and ruby red eyes. Volf had followed his lover. Slipping the hilt of his sword into his mouth, he had jumped along the side of the building, his speed boosted from the fear of his loved one being hurt, he ran up along the side of the building on all fours after the arachnid.

Sebastian glanced over his shoulder, staring off into void as he tried to feel Volf in this world. He glanced up at the ceiling.

"They are engaging the spider. We need to move quickly"

Naoto was amazing she could walk let alone run after that little event, but kept up with Sebastian as he ran to the elevators. Floor 65 was their target

Naoto glanced about inside the elevator as they made their way up

"This is the same building we had dinner atop of…"

"It's the same building Simon killed me in"

She recalled the state of the floor

"That explains the glass…and the blood"

Sebastian looked down, resting against the wall, trying to ignore the terrible elevator music.

"I needed a good memory to try and wipe out a terrible one. I needed it. It was selfish and I apologize"

Naoto leaned over, kissing him gently. There was no Yamato to influence her. This was her.

"Take care of yourself, Detective Chastity…"

He went to open his mouth but instead remained quiet and simply nodded. He ran his claws gently along her cheek, running the smooth cold steel of the back of them down along her cheek. If he was going to die, he wanted to remember this face of hers. This beautiful face he had come to treasure so dearly. He smiled only slightly. Not out of happiness, but sheer disappointment.

"How did it come to this?"

The screech of metal broke his focus as the elevator doors were ripped open on the 65th floor. That face Sebastian had nightmares of stood before them

"Good evening, Detectives"

Simon grabbed Sebastian by the back of his collar and struck him twice in the back, Sebastian felt that all too familiar feeling of his ribs breaking as two snapped. He screamed and was ripped off of Naoto, thrown back to the other side of the building before the boy turned his bright smile towards Naoto who reached for her sword.

Sebastian landed hard against the back cement wall, crumpling to the floor. His vision was foggy, but the only thought that ran through his head was 'get up'. So he did. His legs were shaking and it hurt to move with his now broken ribs, but he stumbled forward towards where he thought he had come from.

Simon leaned back to avoid the first backhand slash from Naoto's sword. On the forehand, he caught her wrist and pinned it to the wall of the elevator, holding her there. His free hand shot upwards and caught her throat, lifting her off of her feet. She couldn't breathe. Her free hand tried to pry his hand off her throat, but she couldn't move him. He was too strong.

Simon glanced up and down the detective.

"A woman…that's strange. He didn't tell me you were a woman"

Simon smiled wider as he gripped tighter onto her throat, Naoto's face turning red.

"No matter"

Simon screamed as Sebastian tried to drive his claws into his back but only seemed to barely scratch his skin as his claws would not sink further. He had been hardened in this world due to the personas he had eaten. Sebastian wrapped one of his arms around Simon's throat and jumped up onto his back, kicking off the wall of the elevator.

Simon lost his grip on Naoto and dropped her to the floor as he fell backwards with Sebastian. Sebastian drove his elbow several times onto the top of Simon's head before the boy was able to grasp what was going on and threw his head back into Sebastian's strike. The pain slot up into Sebastian's arm and into his shoulder, the next blow the weakest yet. He locked his legs around Simon's hips as the boy rolled over and he delivered several more strikes with his elbows into the sides of Simon's head. He wasn't accomplishing anything but pissing the boy off.

Simon reached behind him and gripped onto Sebastian's collar again to try and throw him off. With his great strength, he flipped Sebastian off of him and onto the floor. Sebastian couldn't breathe and clutched his chest tightly, trying to open his diaphragm. Simon reached up to strike Sebastian but was knocked onto the ground again by Naoto who charged him from the side and knocked him to the ground. She struck wildly at the boy's face and neck

"Don't you dare touch him!"

"Get off me, you bitch!"

Simon reached up and struck Naoto in the side of the head, knocking her to the floor. She was disoriented but scrambled to her feet to get away from the boy. Simon stood up and pulled his tie from his neck, throwing it to the floor and opening one side of his jacket at the hole in the fabric.

"So you gave the puppy claws…"

Sebastian grit his teeth and rolled over, standing up again. Naoto dashed for the elevator for her sword. When she turned back around, she was met with Sebastian. Simon, too self-absorbed with his own problem, ignored the two

"Mom is going to kill me…"

Sebastian took her sword from her and pressed himself against her. He kissed her sweetly and pushed her up against the wall and handle bar along the back wall

"I'm sorry for this, Naoto"

She looked up to him, confused

"I'm going to give you the chance you need. It's all on you now…"

"I don't understand…"

"I'm sorry…"

Sebastian broke away from her and pressed the button for the ground floor, backing out of the elevator. Naoto tried to move for him, but she was stuck. She glanced down at her hip at the jam. He had locked her blade into its hilt through the safety bar. She tried to reach for the stop button but couldn't reach that far.

"No…"

Sebastian smiled at her

"No!"

He was so angry with himself as he watched her start to struggle, her panic causing her fingers to fumble on the lock or her belt, unsure of which to go for as the door closed and Sebastian was left with the chuckling boy as he took his jacket off and folded it over one of the walls of the cubicles.

"Boy is she going to be mad at you…"

Sebastian turned and slid his jacket off to let it fall to the ground. He rolled back the sleeves of his shirt and cracked his neck as he took his stance

"I'm going to break your fucking spider…"


	34. Chapter 34

Yamato dashed between the legs of the spider, her feet dancing on the glass on the side of the building as she evaded the spider's legs. She was surprised something so big could move so fast. The sharp and twisted blade like legs swiped at her, but she always seemed to narrowly avoid being hit by the blades.

As she danced, her blade would constantly make contact with the spider's legs or abdomen, but would always just clang off the metal like skin of the spider. It was indestructible. She would have to rely on more unconventional methods of attack. She needed a distraction

Glancing at Volf, the animal leapt off the building and collided into the spider's large head, the large fangs narrowly avoiding the beast as it scrambled onto the spider's back. As the tips of its fur began to glow a feint blue as the energy it wielded erupted from beneath the surface and began to flow across its body, Volf reeled back his fists. Large arcs of electricity cascaded down its shoulders and fists into its strikes as it smashed into the top of the arachnid's head, the beast screeching loud enough to shatter glass as the attacks hit their marks. Volf wondered if it was affecting Simon at all.

Anansi threw its head up which sent Volf into the air. The large wolf crossed its arms across its chest in defense as the spider spat its thin razor wire at the wolf, wrapping and cutting into the animals wrists. Volf needed to be able to block out the pain. If he couldn't, Sebastian would be greatly affected by the attacks he would sustain. He needed to keep his damage at a minimal. It was unclear if Anansi was the target to be destroyed or if Simon was.

Anansi threw its head to the side, pulling down Volf into the side of the building. A quick flash of white and the strands were cut as Yamato dashed between her loved one and the spider, her blade cutting into the side of the building, carving as she moved in large circles around the spider. Anansi had little time to watch as Volf leapt again at the spider and slammed his first between its large red eyes.

Anansi faltered only slightly and drove its large legs into the building for support, pushing back against the attack. Volf felt his arm buckle and he fliped backwards through the air. He was falling. Drawing his sword from its sheath, Volf drove it into the side of the building to slow his fall and eventually stoped himself. Anansi was watching him, her fangs clacking together.

Volf flipped around on his sword, pulling himself up and balancing himself on the hilt to stare up at the spider. Climbing back up was going to prove to be difficult.

Anansi turned its attention from Volf back to the soldier as it made its circles around the large arachnid. It swept its legs at her, trying to cut or slash at the soldier with its twisted body. It sunk its legs into the building as it moved, sometimes its body dropping into the building when it stepped into a spot that could not support its weight. It would have been a smarter move to construct its web along the side of the building; something to grip onto. But it was too late for that.

Instead, she simply tried to keep the pressure on Yamato, spitting her web and swiping with its legs. Eventually the persona would run out of energy and her speed would falter which would give her the opportunity to strike and devour the soldier.

Yamato continued to carve along the glass, swiping her sword with expert precision. Almost done. Almost done! But when she spun to make her final incision along the side of the building, her body collided with the thick twisted metal leg of the large shadow and she fell backwards, propelled by the extremity and collided into the glass. The blades of the leg had cut into her uniform and she was now bleeding along her chest and shoulder but she was intact. Just a little shaken.

She glanced up to the shadow as it approached slowly, its fangs clicking together and its mouth seeming to water as it approached. Yamato, on the other hand, smiled under her helmet and swiped her sword in front of her at the glass, the last swipe she had needed to make.

When the glow of purple began to protrude from the building's side, even the shadows below stopped their assault to watch. Anansi glanced about at the circle she now stood on, runes having been carved into the glass and the circles that had been etched into the building. Anansi glanced up to Yamato who had a smile from ear to ear inside that helmet as the side of the building exploded in a shower of glass and smoke, the purple circles tearing the building almost in half.

Anansi lost her footing and began to fall from the building, her legs frantically trying to find something to grip onto as she fell, screaming in fear and anger when she couldn't find one as her prey fell further and further away from her. She tried to spit her thread at the soldier, but a simple swipe with her sword deflected the attacks, the white thread sinking in the building around her, never hitting her target.

The smile inside Yamato's helmet disappeared quickly when the large hunk of concrete struck her in the back and caused her to fall, disorienting her. The strings hadn't been meant for Yamato. They had been meant for what was around her. Anansi was more clever than either Yamato or Volf had given her credit for. She was using her environment as a weapon. Two more shots of thread, and Yamato's body was pinned to the concrete as it fell. Anansi was going to crush her under the weight of the building.

Wind screaming in her ears, Yamato tried to free herself from the binds but couldn't. The thread would cut her wrists off before it would break free. The ground was getting closer and she was running out of options. She closed her eyes tightly and took a deep breath, not wanting to see the impact happen.

She screamed with the explosion of concrete, but when she felt those strong arms around her, she fell in love all over again. She opened her eyes to Volf holding onto her as they fell together. He had thrown his body into the slab of concrete and broken it from around her. The concrete crumbled away, freeing her wrists.

Volf balled up one of his fists, driving it deep into the support beam along the side of the building, dragging his claws through the concrete to slow their fall. She leaned her head up, kissing him hard through the glass of her faceplate. Volf would have liked to return the compliment, but could only focus on Anansi.

The large spider had fallen away from the building. It threw its head left and right to try and spit its web and brace its weight for its large body, but even with its manipulated strength in its abilities, the web would only snap and drape along the buildings like a poorly done haunted house effect. It was going to hit hard.

When the crash finally happened, Anansi landed against one of the neighboring buildings and forced its first few floors to collapse under her weight before she slid off the top and landed on the asphalt. The spider fell hard on its back, trying to scramble to get itself back on its feet, its legs kicking. The arachnid thrashed angrily, its legs carving out at the building it had landed on at its ground floor.

The large beast rolled from side to side to try and force its way onto its stomach as a rain of glass and small fragments of concrete showered down on the street level. After a moment of effort, the arachnid was able to turn itself over onto its front and shake off the daze of the fall. That had been quite a distance for her to fall. She was impressed she had come out unscathed.

Her red eyes twisted and glanced up to the wolf and its mate, still gliding down side of the building. It snapped it's jaws at the two and took a few steps forward, halting at the snap of concrete and the wine of rebar. Anansi glanced behind it at the building as it began to buckle from the clawing it had done and the weight that was forced to compensate.

Yamato smiled down at the beast and ran her fingers through Volf's mane. Volf snarled with a smile and felt his fur bristle again. Yamato wrapped her arms around his neck to hold on as he threw his now free arm out and an arc of electricity cut through the air and flew towards Anansi, the spider closing its eyes and hiding behind its large legs to defend itself from the attack.

When it did not come, the spider seemed to smile as it peeked above the legs it had hidden behind to glance up at the two. It stood back up and screeched up at them, noticing too late when the building fell upon it, crushing the spider beneath the rubble of the structure. Yamato and Volf held no relief in their faces. It was going to take more than that to kill that bug. If anything, they had only managed to piss it off. Volf drew his sword from his sheath as they hit the ground. Yamato however, watched as Volf's expression turned to desperation and he glanced up the side of the building looking at the top. He put his sword into his mouth and sunk his claws into the concrete before he began to climb up the side of the building. Something was wrong with Sebastian.

The explosion, as Anansi burst from the building rubble, sent large chunks of cement and rebar in all directions into the army of shadows. Large pieces would land in the army and roll several dozen feet before stopping, killing many in the process. Kanji ducked as a piece of rebar flew overhead and crashed into several large hound like shadows that had encircled him. He glanced up at the explosion

"What the hell was that?"

Yosuke dashed past him, cutting down and stabbing at a smaller shadow which had been primed to grab onto Kanji while he was distracted

"Focus, Kanji-kun!"

Kanji turned his attention back to the ocean of black that swirled around him, keeping his back to his friends who were all defending themselves and each other against the onslaught. There was so much black it was hard to focus on one specific shadow. It was as though they were all clambering over one another to get their hit in.

Yukiko ran her hand along Teddies arm, making sure the heal spell had gone through and he was sealed up from the jester like shadow that had snuck up on him.

"Better, Teddie?"

The boy nodded and stood up, looking at the sleeve of his shirt

"I really liked this shirt. Can't believe they ruined it. Murrr…"

Yukiko smiled at him

"You can always get another shirt. Watch my back while I take care of Chie"

Chie sat on the ground, putting pressure on her leg where an axe wielding shadow had come at her. The axes had missed her, but the kick she had landed against it had damaged her leg pretty badly even with the armor strapped to her legs

"How is it?"

"It hurts like a bastard"

Yukiko put her hands together, the red dancer in the sky pouring down her magic to heal the wounds of her friends and personas. Yosuke's persona was having a hell of a time defending her; needing to focus all his energy to keeping his shurikens spinning around her and keep her protected from any shadow that tried to draw near it.

The blades spun furiously around her for a few moments but then would come spinning back to its hands. In that short amount of time it took to throw them again, she was vulnerable and in turn, so was Yukiko. Yosuke's only wish was that no shadow got smart and attacked in that brief moment.

When a gunshot rang out amidst the screaming and clawing and crackling of energy, Yukiko screamed and put her hands on her chest, flopping on the ground like a fish as her persona fell from the sky, landing with a hard thud on the asphalt.

Chie, having forgotten about her troubles, came to her aid and propped her up into her arms and squeezing her to stop her spasming

"Yukiko?! Yukiko!"

Kanji grit his teeth and roared as he swung his chair into the head of a taller shadow, the shadows head spinning around before it fell to the ground. Kanji was now on the hunt as he swung his chair, diving into the sea of black to find the one that had gunned down Yukiko's persona.

The sound of chains didn't register until it was too late as the sea parted for the beast that approached the group.

Effortlessly, its shredded cloak fluttered to a nonexistent wind as he approached Kanji from the sea, its small head swinging from side to side, its one eye staring deep into Kanji's soul that made him freeze in terror. Its long arms rested at its side, the barrel of one of its long revolvers still smoking from the shot it had fired. A Reaper.

The very sight of it made Kanji freeze. He couldn't move his legs. He couldn't move anything. All he could do was stare up at the creature that peered into him. Slowly its hand raised one of its revolvers up to meet Kanji. He couldn't move. Its thumb cocked back the hammer. Kanji wanted to scream, but no sound came from his throat as the reaper pulled the trigger.

'DEFEND'

Kanji's hand instinctively spun his chair around and braced his legs as the bullet from the Reaper smashed against his chair and caused Kanji to fly backwards through the sea and back to his group. Crashing into Yosuke, he rolled over top of him and landed on his face before coming to a rest. He knew his nose was broken.

He tried to get up, his words slurred from the blood in his mouth

"Pro-problem! Big fucking problem!"

Kanji touched his nose lightly, wincing at the pain that arced across his face. It was broken alright. He looked down to his chair, dented from the bulled that had struck it. He was surprised the metal had held on. But…why? That voice.

Glancing up to his persona, it swung its lightning bolt sword above its head before it released a loud metallic hiss and screech, the priming of electricity and machinery. Had his persona just spoken to him? His hand started to shake and he clenched it into a shaking fist before turning his chair over to his other hand. A deeper connection. A deeper understanding and symbiosis between wielder and persona. That is what Naoto had spoken of. This is what she had been experiencing.

He smiled and spat out a bit more blood from his mouth before running his arm below his nose to sop up the blood before he cracked his neck, charging at the Reaper.

"I live for this part!"

Yosuke watched as Kanji rushed the Reaper, the creature drawing back the hammer of its revolver again. He wanted to help, but his friends needed help more. He looked back at Yukiko who was staring off into the distance. She wasn't blinking. Chie clung to her, rocking back and forth.

'Go!'

Yosuke felt a pain begin to radiate behind his eyes as if something was growing and pushing his eyes out of the way to grow. It was excruciating.

'GO!'

Yosuke shook his head when the pain disappeared and looked back at his persona as it threw its shurikens to spin around Chie and Yukiko, defending them

'I will protect them.'

Yosuke felt a smile tug at his lips when the long white legs of his persona leapt from the ground and kicked a sharp toothed shadow in the jaw, snapping it's neck back and killing it instantly before spinning and roundhouse kicking another in the head, also snapping it's neck

'Now go!'

Yosuke was slow to respond but began to nod slowly as his legs started to carry him towards the reaper.

"Ok…OK!"

He turned and rushed at the shadow with Kanji

"Get some!"

He threw one of his Kunai at the Reaper, the blade striking the cylinder of the revolver causing the reaper to fire wide from Kanji. Kanji rushed the Shadow and jumped as hard as he could, smashing the top of his chair against the side of the Reapers head with all of his strength, roaring wildly as he did so.

The reaper stumbled back and swung the barrels of his revolver at Kanji who ducked them and rolled backwards to evade the backhand follow up. The Reaper pulled back on the hammers of both revolvers and trained them on Kanji again as he raised his chair to defend himself. If the shadow could have smiled under its hood, now was the time it would be as it squeezed the triggers.

Both shots fired wide again as the second Kunai thrown by Yosuke clanged with expert precision against the cylinder against one of the guns and knocked it into the second one. The shadow snarled and howled as it trained one of the guns now on Yosuke, taking a step back, defenseless now that he had lost both his weapons. It wasn't going to miss this time with one trained on Kanji and the other on Yosuke.

Something felt wrong. It wasn't sure what it was, but something seemed out of place as it kept both its guns on the two. It couldn't figure out what it was, but something was wrong with this picture enough to give the powerful entity pause. It felt a shiver run through its both and glanced toward the blond boy who approached him, fists clenched, spiked gauntlet tight in his grip and teeth bared like an animal. It cocked its head at the boy.

"You don't get to touch my friends like that…"

When Teddie was angry, he was quiet. It was a scary angry that entirely broke from his character. When Teddie would get mad, he would get loud and talk fast; but when he was angry at his core, furious, he spoke quietly.

The Reaper felt the chill again and looked up at the large block of ice that hovered above its head, the cold of the mist seeping down onto him. The shadow looked back down again at Teddie and tried to bring his revolvers to aim fast enough at the boy as he rushed at him, but was too slow as the large block of ice came crashing down onto his head, knocking him to the floor.

The large shadow shook it's bandaged head as it tried to clear it's vision to focus on the boy as he came rushing up, striking the Reaper along the head and face as hard as he could with the spiked gauntlet. The Reaper fought against the strikes from the boy at first, but the constant puncturing of the gauntlet in its face was slowing it down as it tried to get back up.

It turned its face away from the boy only to have it smashed by the steel of Kanji's chair as he struck him again and again to keep the foe down. He screamed at the top of his lungs, cursing at the creature with every strike as he pummeled the Shadow's head into the asphalt.

"AGGGHHH! FUCK. YOU. FUCK. YOU."

The Reaper bellowed deeply as its head was smashed one direction by the chair and then up by the gauntlet before falling to the ground and remaining down as Yosuke, having retrieved his kunai, plunged them both into the Reaper's head and brought the shadow to its end, the body going limp.

Yosuke had to put his foot on the creature's head in order to yank his Kunai out from the body having plunged them too deep and up to the handle. He leaned over and spat onto the corpse before it began to fade away in a small flash of red light.

From up above, the fat red persona of Teddie's floated down to its sitting position again. Teddie put his hand on his shoulder, winding up his arm a few times. He had damaged his rotator cuff. The fat persona put up its hand as Teddie walked up to him.

'High five!'

Teddie smiled and slapped his hand

'Yea!'

Teddies smile disappeared when reality broke his small accomplishment and he remembered Yukiko. He ran past his persona, knocking him over, back towards his friends with Kanji and Yosuke in tow. Yukiko was shaking slightly in Chie's arms, tears running down either side of her face, her mouth agape like she was trying to scream but no sound came through.

Chie held her tightly, rocking back and forth as she sobbed, her whole body shaking. Teddie leaned down to his knees and put his hand on Chie's shoulder. She immediately threw her arm out, knocking his hand away. Teddie persisted though and wrapped his arms around her tightly, holding both of them. Chie struggled at first, screaming for him to let go. He ignored her and held tightly.

The tightly clad yellow warrior spun it's glaive about as it cut down several shadows, the constant pushing seeming to have let up slightly after the death of the Reaper. Undoubtedly they were responding to the death of such a powerful shadow at the hands of the three persona wielders. This was good. It was giving them a chance to get a breather in. Bach to Back, the persona's encircled their wielders and fallen persona, protecting them while they dealt with their own.

Kanji left the group and rushed to the fallen persona, lifting its head up into his lap as he kneeled down. He patted her cheek a few times

"Wake up. Come on. Come on! She needs you!"

Kanji ran his hand down the Persona's chest, his fingertips gently touching the hole the Reaper had made. It was a clean shot, the bullet having passed straight through. There was no blood, the heat of the bullet having cauterized the hole almost instantly. Regardless, it was a hole in the chest. Kanji bit back tears, shaking the Persona.

"Wake up, damn it!"

Yosuke fell to his knees when Yukiko's eyes began to glaze over. Whatever she was focusing on was far away and getting further. She was dying.

"It..it can't happen like this…"

Yukiko's mouth began to close and her shaking began to subside. Her eyes closed and only the trembling of her lips gave any indication she was still alive. Kanji frantically began shaking the persona

"WAKE UP!"

Chie felt her entire body drop internally when Yukiko's breathing faltered and she began to struggle before she finally stopped breathing entirely. Her arms released Yukiko and she slid off of Chie's body and to the floor. Chie brought her hands to her mouth and began to scream into them. Teddie propped Yukiko's head up onto his lap. He couldn't hold back his tears

"We…we shouldn't have come in here. We should have stayed home…"

Kanji stood up, releasing the still persona, and made his way back to the group. He kneeled down beside Chie. It was cruel what he had to say, but it need to be said

"Chie, We can't stay like this"

She looked up to him

"We can mourn for her later. Right now we need to focus on keeping ourselves alive"

Chie looked back down to the body of her friend and felt anger wash through her.

"I'll…I'll kill them all. Every. Fucking. One. Of. Them."

Kanji grabbed her by the shoulders

"Chie! We can't do this out of anger. We need to keep focused!"

"Don't you **dare** tell me-"

"Chie, it's a miracle we made it this far. We're going to need another one to survive"

Chie's anger seemed to evaporate with those words of his. A miracle…

"Miracle…"

She scrambled out of his grip and to her feet, running up to Teddie's persona and grabbing onto the metal wheel on his stomach

"You! You can perform a miracle, right? We've done it before!"

Teddie's ears twitched. The Persona looked from side to side and scratched its head before shrugging its shoulders. Chie began to pull at the wheel.

"Perform that miracle. Do it to her! Do it! Now! Quickly!"

Kanji spoke out

"Chie, we don't know if it will work. It could destroy us all for all we know. We don't know what it will do!"

"It's better than just letting her die, you idiot! What if it was Naoto?"

Kanji went to speak but tripped over his own tongue. He glanced to Yosuke and then to Teddie. It was **his** persona.

"What do you think, Ted?"

Teddie took a moment to respond, staring down into the face of Yukiko

"Do it…"

The Persona, following its wielder's orders, raised its hands to the sky and strained, the metal of its body seeming to groan with strain and pressure as it tried to perform its technique. It was all up to chance now. Steam began to pour from its mouth and the open slits in its body until the wheel on its stomach turned and its belly opened, pouring a rainbow light onto the group. They all closed their eyes and clenched every muscle in their bodies, hoping that they would not all be killed or worse.

When the light faded and the fat persona fell onto its back in exhaustion, Kanji finally opened one of his eyes to look around. They were fine. Yukiko was still not. Yosuke put his hand on Chie's shoulder, gripping it tightly as he looked at his fallen friend.

"It was worth a shot, Chie"

Chie only looked at the ground, her expression cold and distant.

"There's no hole!"

Teddie looked up from the body to Kanji

"What did you say?"

Kanji, having gone to inspect the body of the persona, raised her head into his lap again

"No hole! No bullet hole!"

Chie glanced down at Yukiko

"But that means it worked…"

Yosuke pushed her and Teddie out of the way as he dashed for Yukiko's body. He pressed his lips to Yukiko's, blowing into her mouth.

"Yosuke, what the fuck?!"

"Shut up, Chie! She needs CPR"

He laced his fingers over one hand as he pushed down on her diaphragm

"Well you can tell by the way I use my walk I'm a woman's man, no time to talk. Music loud, and women warm, I've been kicked around since I was born."

Kanji stood up, watching him

"Yosuke…what the hell are you doing?"

Yosuke breathed into Yukiko again and her body spasmed before she coughed several times and she leaned up, gasping for breath. She looked around for a moment before she looked to Yosuke and hugged him tightly, refusing to let go. He looked to Kanji.

"First aid class. The human heartbeat matches Staying Alive's beat"

Kanji was speechless, so Chie said it for him behind her choking tears.

"You've gotta' be fucking kidding me…"

Sebastian took two swipes at Simon's face before he leaned back to avoid a punch. The last thing he needed right now was to be struck down by those bone breaking swings of his. He needed to keep his speed up. He threw a punch which was blocked by Simon's forearm but then bucked his own elbow to throw it into the side of Simon's head. The boy dropped his guard and approached Sebastian.

When he would throw a punch, Simon would simply throw his head into it. It was like punching a brick wall. Little progress to be made as Simon grabbed Sebastian by the throat and threw him against one of the walls of the hallway, the drywall breaking under the force. Sebastian felt a wooden support beam crack under the strength. He was unsure if he was screaming or not when his scar crashed against it and he fell to the floor.

Simon kicked at Sebastian while he was down, striking him in the shoulder and then the side. Sebastian felt two more ribs break and his shoulder dislocate but he rolled away from the third kick and swept his legs at Simon, striking him in the side of the knee and dropping the boy to one. He turned a little more on his back and struck Simon as hard as he could in the face, knocking the boy onto his back.

Sebastian scrambled up to his feet as Simon crawled at him and struck where he had been previously lying. Sebastian curled one of his arms around his side and held it against his chest. The pressure felt good. He back up into one of the offices. He was trapped, but he needed a moment to gather his strength and his breath.

Simon stood up at the doorway and rolled up his sleeves as he approached Sebastian, smiling as he did so, clapping his hands together.

"Well done, Detective. But I need to know, now that you have your back to a wall, what are you to do?"

Sebastian tried to stand up straighter, but couldn't muster the strength to ignore the damage. Adrenaline wasn't pumping through him like last time.

"You know, Simon, a greater man than I once told me what to do when your back is against a wall…"

Simon clenched his fists

"What is that?"

"Break down the fucking wall!"

Simon crossed his arms over his face to shield his eyes from the debris that exploded inward over Sebastian's shoulder. As the dust cleared, Simon could make out the outline of a beast through the hole of the building, its claws outstretched towards the boy.

Simon closed his eyes tightly as he braced for the hit as the clawed hand exploded with a bolt of lightning and struck Simon in the center of his chest and caused him to fly backwards from the force of the strike. As the boy hit the ground, he had a hard time focusing as Sebastian climbed on top of him and began to claw at his face and neck, stabbing and slashing at his skin.

Simon felt fear run through him. If he did not kill this man quickly, it was a possibility, although slim, that he could be beaten and then who knew what would happen? He kept his arms up trying to defend his head and face until the tingling in his entire body subsided and he could see again, but the nerve damage in his body felt catastrophic even for the amount of personas he had consumed.

"Volf, get back to the fight. Find a way!"

Sebastian would not let up on his onslaught. When Simon would bring his hands up, to block his face, he would strike between his arms and carve a little more off. He wanted Simon to feel all of it. He wanted the boy to suffer for what he had done. It seemed unobtainable when Simon pushed him off and sent Sebastian to the ground so he could lean up.

Sebastian was quick to get up, refusing to let his prey get away as he jumped into Simon's lap and wrapped his legs around the boy's waist, striking him again and again in the head and neck and face. He tried his best to aim for the nose and keep his senses scrambled in order to keep the pressure on the boy.

Simon screamed as he forced himself to his feet and began to run with Sebastian still attached to him. He ran head long in whatever direction he had chosen. Eventually he would come into contact with something hard. When he finally struck another wall of drywall, he crashed through it into the next room.

Sebastian held on tightly, he couldn't let go. If he let go, Simon would either kill him or escape and neither of those options were acceptable. So when Simon crushed him between the powerful shadow controlled boy and one of the concrete walls and felt another rib break, he refused to let go and just kept striking.

Sebastian moved to stab now, doing his best to jab and stab his claws into Simon to get as deep as he could. If he couldn't bring him down, it would all be on Naoto and he needed to give her as much of an advantage as he could. He stabbed his claws into the boy's neck and then into his shoulders and down into his legs.

Simon felt like his entire body was on fire as he bled through his shirt and jeans onto Sebastian. No matter how many times he hurt this man, he kept coming back. It was as though he had no desire to win. No strategy. So in his desperation, he turned to a different method and flattened Sebastian against the wall again. He felt Sebastian's strikes weaken and crushed him a second time, then a third and then a fourth.

When he felt Sebastian's legs get tired, he screamed and threw his shoulders into the strike and Sebastian fell to the floor, pressed against the concrete. Simon threw his fist down to Sebastian but the man moved away from the strike and Simon's fist crashed through the concrete. He roared as he ripped a long piece of rebar from the wall and with both hands, ran it through Sebastian's side, pinning him to the wall.

Sebastian screamed and kicked as the rebar passed through him and kept him down. It was too long to pull himself off of and even with the adrenaline running through his veins; he was unable to simply lean up off it.

Simon struck Sebastian hard across the face and the man's head fell back against the concrete, smacking into it. Sebastian did not feel the second or third strike.

Naoto hammered the button for the 65th floor, ready to dash out from the elevator and kill that son of a bitch. She only hoped that Sebastian hadn't done anything stupid. 55-56-57-58-59.

Simon's body was shaking from the damage Sebastian had done to him. The constant clawing and stabbing of his now dented and mostly dull claws had done quite the number on him. Simon only smiled down at the man, shaking quietly and whimpering with both hands on the rebar, trying to pull it from himself in vein.

"I tried to tell you, Detective. All I wanted was for you to give up and let me have your wolf. Instead, we are here. It could have been much easier"

Sebastian let his head fall back, looking up to Simon

"Why…are you doing this?"

"What do you mean why? I want to grow. I want to control. I found a way"

Sebastian shook his head a few times. He was getting quieter so Simon leaned in closer

"Why…is Simon doing this. Who hurt him?"

Simon shook his head.

"The truth?"

Sebastian nodded, his eyes getting heavy

"I want to be the only person left."

"I don't…"

"Of course you don't understand. It's not about power anymore, Sebastian. It's about control. I want to be the only one with a persona left. Anansi wants to grow, I want to be special. I don't want to be as basic as you or anyone else. What makes me special? A persona. But there are so many others with one. I want to be the only one. I want to be special"

Sebastian was disappointed. Was that really all there was to this?

Sebastian tried to keep his eyes open as he locked eyes with Simon.

"You want to be special, don't you Anansi?"

Simon nodded

"I don't want to be like every other shadow or persona. Unlike you, Sebastian, I gained complete control over this boy when he was still in the womb. Simon died long before I ever drew my first breath. He is still here within this body, but it's a personality that is entirely controlled by me"

Sebastian tried to speak, but his breath was too quiet and Simon leaned in closer

"I have to stay with you this time, Sebastian. Make sure you die and don't come back"

Simon coughed and felt his entire body tense up as Sebastian impaled the boy's stomach with his claws, driving them deep into his body in his last effort to finish his part in the case. Simon glanced down without a word, his body slipping slowly into shock as he pulled away from him, the silver claws still slightly gleaming as the glove slid off of Sebastian's hand. Simon placed his hand along the claws, unsure if he was to pull them out or not

Naoto stepped out onto the floor, surveying the damage that the fight had done. Walls caved in, glass everywhere, blood spatters. Where were they?

"You…"

Sebastian smiled and let his hand fall

"I did my part, Simon."

The boy gripped onto the claws and pulled them from his stomach, blood running down his jeans and onto the floor. He grit his teeth and ripped one of the claws off of the glove, driving it down into one of Sebastian's eyes.

Naoto felt her heart sink at the scream as she ran towards the sound.


	35. Chapter 35

Sebastian tried to keep his grip on Simon's collar but lost it as the boy tore away from him. Through blurry red vision, he watched as the boy stumbled away, falling to his knees twice as he moved. His vision grew hazy and he closed his eyes, letting his head sag. He needed to remember to breathe. He couldn't feel anything below his waist and he was just. So. Tired.

"My god…"

Naoto rushed to Sebastian's side, holding his head against her shoulder.

"Sebastian! Sebastian, wake up!"

She grit her teeth, holding his head tightly in her arms

"Wake up. Please wake up!"

After a moment, he groaned and slowly opened his eyes, looking up to her, his eyelids heavy. He was having difficulty staying awake.

She felt her heart almost break in two as she observed the damage. The bloodied red claw was resting on the ground at his side. Blood flowed freely down his cheek and along his shoulder from the gash in his face where his left eye had been. The claw had pierced it, most likely having pierced through to the other side. It was gone now without means of saving it. If he survived, it would be something for him to learn to live with. With any luck, it wouldn't end his career.

She ran her hand down along his chest to the piece of rebar that was pierced through his stomach. She tried to grip onto it and pull it out, but he did his best to grip onto her wrist before she tried to make a second attempt

"Don't!"

His head felt heavy and he let it sag. She brought one of her hands up to lean it up for him so he could rest. He shook his head several times

"Don't. It's keeping the blood inside"

He moved her hand away from the metal. She rested it on his leg

"It's acting like the cork in a bottle. Leave it inside"

"But…it's through you"

"He missed my stomach. I'll be ok, but I can't have you pull it out"

He wrapped one of his hands around it, holding it tightly and trying to anchor himself from unconsciousness. He needed to focus on the pain. It would keep him awake for a little longer

"Why? Why did you take him on your own?"

He looked at her seriously through his one good eye

"We both couldn't have taken him on in such a tight area. An office corridor…is too small. I hoped I could have beaten him before you came back up. Kept you safe. The case will be resolved either way."

She grabbed onto either side of his head, pulling it to her to stare into him

"Then what was the training for?!"

She let his head go, standing up. She didn't want to be around him right now. His constant need to go at things alone and push her away was killing him. She walked to the other side of the hallway, staring out and down at the army of black still encircled around her friends.

"What was the point of these months of training if it was all useless?!"

He shook his head

"It will prove useful now. He's gone to the roof. You just missed him"

She turned back to him, her mind back on track

"He's still here?"

Sebastian nodded slowly, closing his eyes and leaning back against the wall, not wanting to move his lower body. He winced and spoke from between his clenched teeth

"He's still here, and he's hurt. The claws came in handy"

Naoto glanced at the floor, looking at the trails and spatters of blood on the carpet and against the slabs of concrete. Slowly she began to reconstruct the fight, her mind watching how Simon threw Sebastian around and the struggles Sebastian had with Simon, the way he pinned him to the wall and the impalement of Sebastian's claws into Simon.

It was strange; she could almost see how it had taken place when she really looked at it.

"He's hurt badly, Sebastian"

He nodded and his breathing began to slow.

"Gods don't bleed. He's as mortal as you or I, he's just tough. He's damaged, he's desperate. If he escapes now, we will never find him again until he gets strong enough to find us himself."

Naoto walked back, kneeling down in the blood Sebastian was leaving.

"If I leave you alone…are you going to be ok?"

Sebastian slowly nodded, his breathing weak

"I'll be ok for a little longer. But you need to take him down quickly. Otherwise he will overpower you and we all die. Here. Today."

Naoto went to stand up but Sebastian grabbed for her, pulling her back down

"Stick to your training. Remember what you have learned and you will come out of this alive. Understand?"

Naoto was hesitant but she nodded eventually and leaned in, kissing him gently

"Come back to me in one piece, Naoto"

"When I get back, we are going to have a serious talk…"

Sebastian smiled slightly and fell limp against her, passing out finally. She needed to finish this quickly. The sooner this was over, the sooner Sebastian could get medical attention. Or better yet, he could receive a quick heal from Yukiko and then get taken to the hospital.

Taking a moment longer to look at him, she brushed a few strands of his hair out of his face before standing up, jogging down the hallway to the stairwell to the roof. Her boots thudded hard on the metal as she skipped stairs to get to the top. As she approached, she noticed spatters of blood along the stairs and wall. Sebastian had dug deep.

Simon leaned over the edge of the building, looking down at his shadow fighting Yamato as she dashed about and evaded his attacks. It was strange. Volf was nowhere to be seen. Where was he?

"Anansi! Quit playing around and kill them! Kill them now!"

"SIMON!"

Simon was slow on the response, turning his head slowly to look at her on the opposite end of the rooftop. He spat the blood in his mouth out and wiped his lips on the back of his sleeve.

"Oh right…the bitch…"

Naoto slowly drew her sword from her sheathe

"Matthew Demitri, you are under arrest for the deaths of Miles McDermott, Nathan McDermott, Alexia Tal, Jacob Crane, Donovan Alister, Sara Diegg, and Tohru Adachi. For the attempted murder of U.N representative and detective Sebastian Chastity of Reign-Beaux and Naoto Shirogane of the Inaba police Department. Surrender yourself and come quietly or I will be forced to take action against you. Comply!"

Simon snarled

"Fuck you!"

Naoto felt a smile tug at the corner of her lips and slowly approached the boy, sword at the ready

"Let the record show that Mr. Demitri refused to comply"

Naoto dashed at Simon who crossed his arms over his chest, waiting for the sword to come down before he threw his arms against it. The blade cut through his clothing, but could not cut through the skin and simply clanged against his arms as though they were blocks of wood. She swung again and the sword again knocked against him. When simon reached out to attack, she leaned back from the swing and spun, driving the back of her heel into Simon's face in a roundhouse kick.

The kick stunned Simon and he leapt back from her, one of his hands pressed tightly against his stomach, blood seeping through his fingers. Naoto took note of it and pressed her attack, swinging for his hand over his wound, the sword clanging hard against it, pushing the hand harder against the wound. Simon roared and felt himself fumble to his knee.

Naoto was quickly on top of him, driving her boot up into the boy's face and knocking him onto his back, both his hands pressed to his stomach tightly. Naoto pointed the tip of her sword against Simon's head

"Surrender, Simon."

"No"

Simon grabbed onto the sword and twisted it, the metal snapping halfway up the blade before he grabbed the fallen piece of sword and tried to swing at Naoto with it. She jumped back from the attack and checked how much sword she had left as Simon forced himself to his feet

"This is my world!"

Naoto reset her stance, taking a deep breath as Simon came at her with the blade.

Sebastian felt sick to his stomach as his eyes slowly opened, his vision fuzzy. Slowly, the world began to come into focus. The bare feet in front of him were covered in blood to the ankle. Blood was running freely from above them but the blood on the feet looked as though the person had been wading through it.

As his eyes traveled upward, he noticed the figure wasn't wearing any cloths, simply naked in front of him. The legs were lightly scared but tense with muscle. The hands and arms from the elbow down were also covered in blood. There was a large red bloodline seeping down along the left side of the figure's body, blood ran freely from the wound and down the left leg and down between his legs along his groin.

There were multiple fresh scars along the arms and chest and shoulder as he tried to focus on the face.

It was his.

Sebastian looked up into the bright yellow yes of his doppelganger. Although the left eye of the doppelganger glowed yellow, blood still seeped from around it like bloody tears that ran down the neck and behind the left shoulder. Sebastian smiled up at him before closing his eyes and leaning his head back against the cold concrete

"So…you finally decided to show up…"

The figure said nothing as it stood there, arms at his sides, simply watching the man lay there in his own blood, red dry turning brown along his left cheek. It itched but Sebastian dared not scratch it.

"I was wondering… when you would"

The copy reached forward and put the palm of his hand against the tip of the piece of rebar, pushing it a little deeper into his body. Sebastian clenched his teeth together and let out a long grunt, his hands coming up to grip onto the rebar and stop it from going any deeper or moving at all.

"Stop! You'll kill us both!"

The copy stopped and let his hand rest at his side again. Sebastian took several deep breaths trying to will the fire inside to die down.

"We...we need to work together. Just a little longer and then you can have me all to yourself. Ok?"

The man looked down at his impaled copy and wrapped his fingers around the piece of rebar, gripping it tightly. Their eyes locked and, hesitantly, Sebastian nodded and braced himself against the wall. He felt a scream try to escape his lips, but no sound would come. Sebastian felt strange with the event. It wasn't as though he had a piece of anything pass through his body on a daily basis. He both hated and found interest in this feeling.

Sebastian let his body fall to the side as he collapsed to the concrete. His legs ran against the ground, dragging against the red carpet as he squirmed and thrashed on the floor. What an experience. He took small quick breaths, trying to keep himself from crying, unable to hear the sound of the rebar hit the ground.

Keeping his hand tightly against it, he spoke to the copy, his voice cracking several times

"Get back into the fray. We…we can't falter now."

The figure nodded and turned from Sebastian, making his way to the section of the floor that had been blasted away by Yamato's attack earlier

"Volf!"

His naked copy stopped walking but did not turn around

"Find a way to take that shadow down. If we can't, we will never get the opportunity again. Naoto won't kill him. Bring her down!"

The double turned to look at Sebastian before opening its arms and falling backwards through the broken window, back outside, back to where Yamato was dealing with Anansi. It was on them now. Sebastian leaned up slowly, his hands trembling. Slowly, he began to crawl towards the stairwell, his progress slow, his legs wanting to give out from under him. One step at a time, one step at a time.

Naoto ducked under the blade and brought her sword up to block against another slash, the blades clanging loudly against one another and forced Naoto back. She lost her footing and fell to the ground onto her back. As Simon lunged on top of her, she leaned her head to the side to avoid the stab and kicked the boy off. He was stronger and faster, but not heavier. She rolled back onto her knees and crossed her broken sword over her chest, moving one leg to stand. She was ready for more.

"This world does not belong to you, Simon. It belongs to the monsters that inhabit it"

"And what about you, Shirogane?"

Simon threw his piece of her sword off of the building to let it fall to the street below

"What are you then? A jailor to keep the shadows in? The sheriff?"

Naoto stood back up, slowly approaching as Simon walked towards her. He swung at her and she did what she could to deflect the wild hooks and uppercuts, but missed and took a punch to her side. She yelled out as she felt one of her ribs snap under the strike and she stumbled away from him, hand on her side.

"Are you not trying to be some sort of governing force? With all that power inside of you, knowing what you know now, aren't you the least bit hungry for more? More power? More knowledge?"

Naoto took another shot to the side and fell backwards from the boy. She rolled onto her knees and vomited onto the ground, her hands shaking. Is this what it had been like for Sebastian?

"Of…course I am. But I cannot let myself be drowned by it. You are a shining example, Mr. Demitri."

She wiped her mouth with the back of her sleeve and forced herself to her feet

"I experienced giving into what I possess once. I sent three men to the hospital with nothing more than a bruise on my cheek to show for it. I know what I am capable of. But if I crawl down to your level, I would be no different than the people I try to put away to keep the public safe"

Naoto felt a sting behind her eyes as Yamato spoke to her. She had a splitting headache

'Sweetheart, Volf and I are going to try and bring Anansi down. Keep him distracted a little longer'

Naoto stood at the ready, her sword in both hands in front of her. She took a step forward but stopped, glancing down at her broken blade before glancing up at Simon. She smiled at him and tossed her sword over the edge of the building.

"You claim to be a monster. However, you are nothing but a boy unable to get his way in real life. So you flaunt your power and influence in this world to bully your way to the top. You're a child. I'll show you a monster, Simon"

Naoto rushed at the boy, throwing her shoulder into of his strikes and driving her head up into his nose. It wasn't as though her headache could get any worse. The boy reeled back but she grabbed a handful of his hair and pulled his head down into her knee, throwing it up as hard as she could into his face. He reeled back with both hands on his nose before falling onto his back with a powerful running knee to the sternum. She was limping from the strike but persisted.

"Volf…"

The large wolf threw his hands out, striking Anansi in the eyes with a powerful bolt of lightning as Yamato slashed her sword along the upper carapace, the long thin arcs of white smashing and denting the steel like body of the spider. He threw his head up, his ears twitching to his wielders call.

Sebastian pulled himself up the first stair of the roof, his work slow, his knees refusing to work.

"Sacrifices must be made. You know how to break that carapace. Do it"

'But your body…'

"Do it, Volf! We don't have the time anymore!"

Volf tore away from the spider and towards the skyscraper. On all fours, the animal ran his way up the building. He needed to get high. He needed to get as high as he could. Yamato swiped at the spider's legs, the front two giving way and the spider collapsed for a moment, needing to rest, stunned from the onslaught. She looked up, watching the wolf run and her cape fluttered as she tore off after him

'Sweetheart. Sebastian and Volf have a plan. We're going to take her down'

"Do it!"

Simon caught one of her punches and twisted her arm, striking her in the shoulder and popping it out of place. She screamed and Simon threw her off of him. He scrambled to his feet and limped to the side of the building, his mouth hanging open when he saw Anansi on the ground, dazed and unable to focus

"Anansi! Leave her alone!"

Simon fell back onto the ground as Volf tore up into the sky in front of him, knocking him on his back. Volf had jumped and Yamato followed quickly behind him, grabbing the wolf by the arm and using his momentum to carrying him higher with her ability to fly

"No…NO! Leave her alone!"

Simon scrambled to get up but Naoto jumped onto his back and wrapped her legs around his, him falling back onto the ground again

"It's better this way, Simon"

Simon screamed, reaching out for the two. He couldn't find the strength to get her off of his back

"Anansi!"

Yamato carried Volf as high as she could but his weight was proving too difficult to deal with. She lifted him up with the last of her strength and his momentum and threw him over her shoulder. As the two arced in the air together and slowly began to fall back to earth, she caressed his mane and cupped his cheeks. Volf's mouth opened to speak and Sebastian's words came from his mouth.

Sebastian smiled as he climbed the last stair, his body resting on the platform

"I love you"

Yamato opened her mouth and Naoto's words came from her. Naoto smiled through Simon's thrashing as he threw his elbows back, striking her in the ribs and sides, breaking her bones.

"I love you too"

Yamato threw Volf back down to earth with all her strength, the animal now becoming a glowing electrified meteor as he fell and the wind screamed in his ears. Yamato drew her sword and concentrated as she wildly swiped her sword through the air, long arcs of white being cast in the air that hurled down to the spider, passing over and around Volf.

The white arcs slammed into Anansi as she tried to get to her feet and out of the way of the falling star, but the force of the attacks were keeping her down, unable to move. She screeched loudly into the air, Simons name almost audible in the scream. Simon began to cry and his struggling became more wild and clumsy. Naoto held tightly. They had him.

Kanji noticed the lull in the waves of shadows and looked up to the sky with the rest of them

"What the hell is that?!"

Yukiko held onto Chie tighter as she fought her way up to her feet

"The shadows are occupied. Get into the building"

Chie put Yukiko's arm around her neck while Yosuke took the other, helping carry her towards the building, Teddie and Kanji with their personas clearing the path through distracted shadows.

Volf reeled back his fist and with a mighty roar, struck Anansi along the top of her large head, the metal creaking inward before breaking and Volf struck through the metal. The attack did not come without a cost and Volf's arm snapped in three places, the bones of the wolf breaking through the skin. In the stairwell, Sebastian screamed as his arm broke in three places simultaneously and he began to cry as he screamed. Naoto had to hold tightly and not look to Sebastian although it cut her deep not to.

Volf roared through the pain and plunged his other fist into the broken carapace. Lightning erupted from his body, coursing through the spider's insides and causing the arachnid to spasm and flail, the lightning making her unable to shake or claw Volf off. Instead, all she could do was falter as she was electrified, her body beginning to go numb.

Simon screamed at first and tensed up, his body writhing in Naoto's grip as he was feeling the effects of the electricity coursing through his shadow. He wanted to scream but only gargling noises came from his mouth and his eyes rolled back in his head.

Volf continued to pour more into the spider, not satisfied when it stopped moving. He wanted the bug to suffer and just kept letting the lightning flow like water from his body into the beast. Simon eventually stopped moving on his own and just danced in her arms from the damage. He was unconscious. Volf was killing him. He couldn't die. It wasn't right.

"Volf! Stop it! You're killing him!"

Yamato tried to pry Volf away from the spider but he ignored, continuing his attack to bake the spider and burn it to death

"Volf! Please!"

Yamato wrapped her arms around Volf tightly, squeezing him and gently pulling him away. Slowly he began to ease off, the lightning coming to a stop and his large claws pulling from the hole he had made. The spider twitched under them, gentle noises that came from it showed that it was still alive. They hadn't killed it. Volf turned to her and wrapped his good arm around her, holding her tightly to him before they both disappeared into nothingness.

Naoto rolled over and let Simon go, the boy unconscious as he rested on his stomach. Naoto rolled over again onto her back and began to breathe quietly; eventually tears ran from her eyes as she wrapped her arms around her chest, her body now registering the pain and the **great** relief that came with it.

It was over. They got him.

Naoto stayed on her back; looking up to the sky as the waves of red and black flowed over the ceiling of it. She couldn't believe that it was over.

"Seb!"

She had forgotten him. She turned her head to the side to look into the stairwell, her battered and broken friends surrounding the body of the detective. He reached out for one of them, Yukiko. Slowly, her friends lowered her so she could get close. She put her hands together in a quiet prayer and she brought both her hands to him, the magic of her persona healing him.

The magic would not heal his wounds entirely. It would close some of his wounds with a fresh layer of skin or tissue, but he needed medical attention desperately. Yosuke and Teddie slung his arms over their shoulders and helped him walk to Naoto who remained on her back, her hair a mess with blood and dirt and whatever was covering the roof.

Slowly she rolled onto her stomach and eventually sat on her heels, breathing a sigh of relief. Teddie's shoulder was dislocated, kanji's nose was broken, Yukiko was developing, what looked like, a large bruise in the middle of her chest, and Chie was covered in bruises and cuts along her legs. Her leg might have been fractured but the adrenaline in her blood was still pumping and preventing her from feeling anything yet. Yosuke seemed…fine.

Sebastian was let down slowly with Yukiko. Their eyes all traveled to the unconscious boy. His breathing was slow but apparent. He was alive. He would survive this ordeal. They all breathed a sigh of relief before Yosuke started laughing and wondered over to the edge of the building to look down at the destruction.

"The shadows are scattering. Jeez that's a massive bug…"

Sebastian kept an arm wrapped around his chest as he smiled

"Thank you. All of you. We couldn't have done it if you had not been there. I would like to give some sort of speech saying how you all did so well, but I think it would be best if we all sought medical attention"

There were a few chuckles and winces from about the group. Sebastian smiled at Naoto

"You did phenomenally well"

Naoto smiled and relaxed, laying back on the roof, breathing slowly to calm her racing heart. They needed to get to a hospital.

"Seb"

Sebastian leaned up when he heard the sound of the footsteps coming up the stairwell. They were soft but whatever was making them wanted to make apparent it was coming. Kanji sighed before taking a deep breath and grabbed onto the legs of his chair, Yosuke moved with him in front of the group to defend them. For the amount of action, they seemed to be alright for the most part; Yosuke especially.

When the naked copy of Sebastian walked through the doorway, the group was unsure what to say. The yellow glowing eyes made them shake to their bones as it growled at them. It was Volf's growl. Kanji ground his heel into the roof, ready to attack, but Sebastian's hand on his shoulder stopped him.

Sebastian walked past Kanji towards the shadow which seemed to have tears running down his face but made no noise or held any visual to indicate it was upset. It was a crying wolf.

"You…"

Sebastian swallowed and tried to speak again

"You never tried to kill me because you understood what that meant. Am I right? I mean, normally, a shadow would try and kill the person it came from"

Yukiko pressed her hand tightly to her chest

"Volf was Sebastian's shadow…"

Naoto nodded

"Not his persona"

Sebastian looked back to the ground for a moment and then back up to his shadow and along the blood on his body. Each was a mark represented of each time he had been hurt. He couldn't imagine what the scar on his back looked like but he could see the small scar on the underside of his throat where he had tried to kill himself.

"I have known you were my shadow for years, Volf. And I was always ok with it. Each fight we were in helped us grow and helped us develop and cure a little bit more of that anger we hold so dearly inside of us. I thank you for that…"

The shadow nodded with a smile and opened his arms as if to hug his wielder

"So what now, Volf? Is this the part where I say those magic words? Is this the part where I say that I accept you and who I am and then everything is ok?"

Kanji put his hand on Sebastian's shoulder but Sebastian threw it off. This was not ok

"Is this the part where I say that we are the same and things go back to normal?! Well fuck that!"

Yosuke turned to Sebastian

"What the hell are you doing?"

The shadow felt its fangs begin to expose themselves and his fists clenched. His eye began to twitch, the anger rising inside of him

"I defy you. I deny you as something in my life. You are not me and I am not you!"

The shadow smiled and felt his skin begin to stretch as he began to change. The wind picked up around them and the shadow began to laugh Volf's laugh

"But I used to be…"

Within the same instant, the wind died down and the laughing ceased. Sebastian had spoken so quietly only the Shadow would have been able to hear him inside his head. He said it louder

"I used to be you"

The shadow felt its expression fade and it simply stared at the ground, his fists relaxing.

"Volf…I remember the pain"

The shadow locked eyes with Sebastian and took several steps towards him. Sebastian moved as well, walking away from the group. Yosuke reached for him but Naoto pulled his arm back

"Let him do this, Yosuke"

Sebastian stopped a few feet from him, looking over the form in front of him.

"I remember the pain of losing them. The helplessness and anger of being alone. The fear of rejection and loss of loved ones. 'Never get close' remember? But I'm not that person anymore, Volf"

He indicated Naoto, speaking quietly, the conversation for the two of them alone.

"I found the love I was looking for, Volf. So did you. Do you want to lose that?"

When the shadow didn't respond, Sebastian backed up from him, back into the group to Naoto's side. He held her hand

"I found what I was looking for. And I intend to stay with it. But what about you?"

There was a pause that Sebastian felt went on forever, his shadow still saying nothing, just staring at the floor

"Volf…I will abandon you"

The shadow looked up, taking a step forward, its mouth agape to make a noise but only a whimper came out

Sebastian choked back a sob

"I don't want to, Volf. You have always been there for me. My best friend. But I'm not you. Not anymore. You have a choice. But I can't be with you on that path anymore. So this really isn't up to me. It's up to you…."

"…."

"What about Yamato? Don't you want to be with her?"

"…!"

"She wants to be with you, Volf. Are you going to abandon her?"

"…"

"I don't want to lose you. I'm begging you, Volf. Let it go. I don't want to be angry anymore. Let it go. Let them go."

"…"

"Say it…"

The shadow went to open its mouth again but no sound came out.

"Please say it…"

After a hard swallow, the shadow tried again

"I am you…"

Sebastian nodded.

"You are…"

"And you are me…"

The image of the naked form of Sebastian shattered like glass in all directions, replaced instead by Volf. He growled as the red light around him turned slowly to blue and his body began to glow brightly. Where some of the members of the group shielded their eyes, Sebastian stared deep into it to watch his friend change. His body's muscle thinned out and his thick powerful legs fell to their knees. Powerful hands turned to paws and his body grew and thickened out. His mane grew and stretched along his body and his maw stretched out, accommodating more teeth. As the light began to dim, the large grey wolf stood on all fours now, a majestic creature of pride and power and speed. Long strands of yellow and blue ran under the fur like wires to carry the currents of electricity that ran through his veins and came up along his jaw, folding into his maw to electrify his bites. No longer was he the vicious angry and violent beast he was previously.

Sebastian smiled slightly as his card materialized before him and floated down to his eye level. He took it gently in his one good hand and looked at it. With a chuckle he shook his head.

"The moon…how appropriate"

Sebastian dropped the card which disappeared before it hit the ground and approached the large beast. Sebastian put his hand out, the large beast sniffing it a few times before he approached and pressed his massive head against Sebastian who hugged him tightly

"Hello Volf"

Teddie smiled at the two.

"Doesn't he have a new name?"

Sebastian shook his head slowly

"It doesn't matter what form he takes. He will always be my Volf."

The wolf closed its large yellow eyes as Sebastian wrapped his arms around his large muzzle, careful with his broken arm.

"I'm sure you have secrets where your sword went, don't you, Volf"

He large beast snorted in acknowledgment before pulling its head away from his wielder. Sebastian felt relieved to have such a beast inside of him now. He felt lighter. More calm. Collected.

"We need to get to a hospital. Volf, mind giving us a way out?"

He beast scratched at the surface of the roof and gently blew the dust of the scratch away, the shiny screen of a plasma TV protruding and cut out along the roofs surface as though it had always been there just under the surface.

"You guys go through first. We need to secure Simon for transport. Call the hospital and have them send a few ambulances. "

The group took a moment to look around at the damage before climbing into the television back to the real world. All relieved that although broken and bruised, they were alive. Sebastian turned to Naoto and smiled at her as his wolf disappeared in a faint glint of blue light. She smiled back at him and approached, kissing him gently. They had to be gentle with one another, both broken pretty badly.

Simon coughed a few times and groaned, rolling over onto his back and holding his stomach. Naoto took a pair of handcuffs from Sebastian's belt and approached the boy, rolling him onto his stomach to handcuff him. She grabbed the boy and moved him to his knees. He sat quietly for a moment.

Naoto indicated Simon

"I need to sit for a moment. Watch him"

Sebastian nodded and stood behind the boy, staring down at him in disgust

"So…Sebastian…what now?"

Sebastian spat

"Now you will be taken back with me to Reign-Beaux. You will undergo a trial and will be dealt with accordingly."

Simon started to chuckle and the chuckle turned into a laugh. He coughed several times.

"God, laughing hurts"

He spat out the blood in his mouth and glanced over his shoulder at Sebastian

"Trial? What jury would convict me? What evidence do you have of anything? What's your proof? 'In a magic world behind a television this boy murdered several people?' Is that about right?"

Sebastian began to chew his tongue, listening intently

"I will be acquitted before a trial even takes place and set free. Anansi and I will recover and I will return to this world. You can't stop me, Sebastian"

Slowly, Sebastian began to nod his head.

"Naoto"

She looked up to him, sitting on the edge of the building, holding her dislocated arm in her other arm, gripping it tightly. He smiled at her

"Am I a good person?"

She didn't quite understand the question but nodded

"I believe so, yes"

Sebastian glanced down at the ground again, his left arm a little itchy

"I want to be a good person, Naoto. I want to always do the right thing. I want to be like you in that respect. Always do the right thing. The only problem is that I always do what needs to be done."

He smirked at her slightly

"The only difference between me and you is whatever we have agreed upon. I just don't always agree…"

Sebastian reached onto his belt and drew his pistol, cocking back the hammer. Naoto wasn't fast enough to get up before he put the barrel against the back of Simon's head and pulled the trigger.

Sebastian felt nothing as he watched the bullet pass through the boys head or when the blood spattered against the rooftop. He felt nothing when the body hit the ground or when it started to twitch as the brain tried to understand what had just happened to the boy. And he felt good when it stopped and life left the boys eyes.

The only thing Sebastian felt was guilt and shame when he looked into Naoto's eyes and saw her image of him shatter like the finest crystal wine glass and everything changed.

'Listen to your heart…'

He spat onto the body.

"Case 463, closed…"


	36. Chapter 36

The sight was a little off-putting to say the least. The swelling along the side of his face, the freshly changed bandages that were wrapped along one side of his head that seemed to have weep bleeding through to the other side of the cloth. Healing would take a long time. The black cast along his arm, secured tightly around his body and his suit lying limp at one side as he was unable to get his arm through the sleeve. It seemed that even in his current state that he wanted to look good.

The chief of the Inaba police swallowed hard as he looked over the boy, unsure of how to start their little conversation.

"So…how are you feeling, Detective?"

Sebastian cracked a small smile before it fell from his face, making his appearance more stoic as it was before.

"I have had better days, Sir"

The fat man nodded and chewed on the inside of his lip

"And the eye?"

"Gone, Sir"

He nodded again and folded his hands on his large desk, running his thumbs across one another

"I am sorry for your loss, Detective. We appreciate your efforts in the line of duty"

"I am sure you do…"

He man put on a small smile before he cleared his throat

"It is safe to assume that you are heading home now?"

Sebastian nodded and crossed his legs as he leaned back in his seat

"Today, Sir"

"And um…"

"There will be no more incidents…Sir"

The fat man cleared his throat and stared into Sebastian as he hunched over his desk

"What am I to say to the press?"

After Sebastian had shot Simon, his body had dissipated sometime between Naoto falling to her knees in disbelief and when Sebastian had slid into the floor television. The body had shortly thereafter showed up along one of the power lines in one of the districts near where the first body had been found. The police were quick to retrieve it and take it out of the public eye.

"You tell them that a suspect has been apprehended and the investigation is being handled under the jurisdiction of a private firm of the United Nations. You then come forward with a personal statement that the incidents will cease and the murders will stop as the suspect has been confirmed as the killer and everybody is happy. Give Officer Shirogane a medal or two in public and get as much press as you can to calm the fears of the public and return order to your once peaceful city.

Within a few weeks, everything will return to normal and everyone will go back to their lives as if it never happened. It's not as though anyone from this town was killed, so I'm sure everything will turn out fine. "

The chief ran one of his hands along his head, wiping the sweat off of his brow

"And you are certain the killings will stop; that no more bodies will start falling from the sky?"

Sebastian nodded and felt a pain in his eye, pressing his palm carefully against the bandaging. It was going to take some time to get use to the lack of vision on that side.

"You have my personal guarantee, Sir"

The man breathed a sigh of relief and leaned back in his seat

"So, it's over"

"It is, Sir"

The man stood up and extended his hand to Sebastian. Sebastian stood and shook it firmly in his undamaged one

"It has been good working with you, Detective Chastity. Your methods may be unorthodox, but your results are positive."

"I only wish I could have solved it sooner, Sir. But certain circumstances forced my time to be extended. But as you said, positive results"

"I am sorry about your eye"

"I'm sure you are…"

Sebastian turned to leave the office, opening the glass door

"Detective Chastity…"

Sebastian stopped as he opened the door

"Thank you for returning Detective Shirogane to us. We are glad to have him back"

Sebastian paused in the doorway for a moment before he closed the door, turning back around to face the man. Sebastian eyed the man up and down for a moment before he sat down in the chair across from the man's desk. The chief eyed him apprehensively.

"Is there something wrong, Detective?"

Sebastian cleared his throat before he spoke

"Detective Shirogane is a woman…"

The man felt his lips get dry

"E-excuse me?"

"Detective Naoto Shirogane is a woman"

"I..are…are you certain?"

"I had sex with her, Sir. I'm certain of what I experienced"

The man went to speak again but Sebastian barked at him

"Shut up!"

The man was a little taken back by the boy's ferocity and back down, closing his mouth

"Four people"

Sebastian held up four fingers to indicate his point

"Four people were given my cellphone number for this case, Sir"

Sebastian reached into his pocket and pulled out his cellphone, putting it on the man's table

"This is a new phone. I buy a new one before every case and give it a new number. It allows me to keep a short record of the incoming and outgoing calls"

Sebastian paused as he looked from the cellphone to the man

"One of those four people was Detective Shirogane. She knew she is a woman. So she is removed from the list. Secondly was my boss, Director LeFleur. I told him personally that Shirogane was a woman. So he is removed from the list. Thirdly was Detective Dojima. He also knew that Shirogane was a woman. So he is clean. The final person on that list is you. You are the only person who was given this number who did not know that Shirogane was a woman."

"S-so?"

Sebastian smiled slightly

"So Simon's inside man did not know that Shirogane was a woman. It was quite a surprise to the boy when he found out that Naoto was a woman. Simon had to get my number somewhere and from someone. That someone had my number and had no idea that he was a she."

Sebastian crossed his hands on the man's desk

"That someone would be you…"

There was silence in that room now. Chaos was so beautiful in the silence. It had been something so simple as Simon referring to Naoto as Mr. Shirogane that had stirred Sebastian's suspicion. He hadn't needed to look back at the years of phone records to narrow down the suspects. It had been narrowed down to only a few names and the one determining factor that had separated them.

"Detective-"

"How much did he pay you?"

"You realize how ridiculous this sounds"

"How. Much. Did. He. Pay. You"

The man went to open his mouth but Sebastian shut him up

"Never mind, don't tell me. It is really irrelevant"

The chief hadn't blinked yet

"You know, sir, It has been a long time since the end of World War II. It has been a long time since the days of the samurai and the culture and beliefs this nation has. It has been a very long time since the days that _honour _meant anything to anyone but I know that honour still means a great deal to you here in the east.

So tell me, how much honour did you give up to sell your soul to this boy? How much honour and your humanity did you give to him to feed him your best mind and detective and a representative of the U.N.?"

The chief went to speak but tripped over his own tongue several times before he sighed quietly and inwardly. He leaned over his desk again, crossing his hands over one another

"There is not a lot of money in this job, Detective. It's a nice position, but it was never enough for me. I always wanted a little more…"

"Action?"

"No. I wanted more respect. More men. More troops. Like a captain or a general. I wanted to feel pride in my work. But this is Yaso-Inaba. This isn't Tokyo. This isn't Osaka or Kyoto or even Kitakyushu. It's Inaba. Just Inaba. **This-"**

The man indicated his desk

"Is as good as it gets. I have two kids. I want them to be able to get the best education they can possibly have so they never have to be stuck here"

Sebastian was quiet until he was sure the man had finished

"That is such a bullshit excuse, Sir. You betrayed your own people. The coldest ring in hell is reserved for the greatest traitors in the world. You will be no different when you get there"

Sebastian stood from his seat, staring down at the man

"Are you insured, Sir?"

"Excuse me?"

"Do you have life insurance?"

"Y-yes"

"I, Sebastian Chastity, agent of Reign-Beaux, am charging you with accessory after the fact and attempted murder of a police officer and a united nations representative. In this country, I'm certain the media and your legal system will just be foaming to get their hands on you"

"Now wait-"

"However, I am going to give you an ultimatum…a means of keeping your honour."

Sebastian felt a small shiver run up his spine

"In your top right drawer is a .38 revolver. If I am correct, it is standard issue for the Japanese police. I am going to walk out of this police station now. If you shoot yourself before I leave the building, I will never breathe a word of this to anyone and your honour and dignity will remain intact. If you do not, however I will bring this to the media attention and I will do everything in my power to break you and your family down into the dust. I will do my best to ensure that it will be several generations before your name is forgotten in this town"

The chief was frozen for a moment before he reached into his desk and pulled the gun on Sebastian. He did not flinch

"What if I was to just shoot you instead? Kill all the evidence, hmm?"

"You could do that. I would regret not being here to listen to you try and weasel your way out of explaining why you shot a UN representative at point blank range fresh from the hospital with one eye, a broken arm and several broken ribs. What kind of story did you have planned for when they come rushing in here to see what happened?"

Calling the man's bluff, Sebastian adjusted his tie with his one good hand before bowing to the man. He needed to put on a good face. As he turned from him, he heard the hammer pull back on the revolver but he ignored it, opening the door to the office and walking out into the lobby, moving past several officers as he moved. He smiled at several as they expressed their thanks for the case being solved and the murderer stopped. He seemed just as happy as they were.

Though she did not look up from her work, she felt her pen slow as the knuckles outside her door tapped on the glass. She said nothing, returning back to her work at her usual pace, filling out her report of the incident that had occurred several days prior in the shadow world while skipping all the major shadow world details. She kept her eyes down at her work, the smell in the air angering her as it did not smell as bitter or sour as she felt it needed to be. Sebastian cleared his throat

"Naoto, I-"

"Get out of my office, Detective Chastity"

Her tone was quiet and empty. He paused in place for a few moments, wanting to see if she would even look up to him. When she did not, he let go of his held breath and turned to leave her office. He had partly closed the door behind him before he paused and leaned his mouth through the doorway

"I'm not a bad person, Naoto. I just do bad things when they need to be done"

She felt her pen stop mid-sentence and Yamato spoke through her. Naoto did not stop her.

"And what of us, Sebastian? Would you kill us for the greater good?"

Without hesitation, Sebastian had already prepared his comeback

"Yes. But I would hope to give you enough hesitation time for you to pull the trigger first. I could never see my gun pointed at you. You aren't the kind of person to warrant me pointing my gun at with a foul intent… good day, Detective. It was an honour"

Naoto tried to say something, but the door closed behind him first. She set her pen down on her small stack of paperwork and closed her eyes, leaning forward onto her hands and rubbing her temple with her fingers. She had such a headache.

The sound of the gunshot broke her from her trance and focus and she darted for the door of her office, practically ripping her revolver from her holster as she came out. She glanced about, several officers making their way down the hallways to see what the noise was. Towards the exit, she noticed Sebastian walking calmly away from the sound, unshaken, unconcerned. Why?

When she had managed to move several of the officers out of the way, she was able to look inside the chief's office. The man was face down on his desk, a large hole blown in the back of his head. Blood painted the glass and wall behind him, the pane having shattered as the bullet passed through it. The hands on the desk twitched slightly with delayed response from a brain that was no longer there before it stopped moving entirely.

Naoto was speechless as the sight. Somehow, she knew, Sebastian was tied to this. But she knew not how or the method. She glanced around looking for Chie, hoping she had talked to Sebastian about this or something. She did not want to talk to him directly. But where was she?

As Sebastian walked from the police station, he glanced up at the clear blue sky with a small smile. It was going to be a beautiful spring. He was glad the man had taken him up on his offer. Life insurance would cover suicide if he had paid into his plan for over two years. His children would be taken care of. It was better this way. If the chief hadn't done it, he knew that he would be in a tough situation on what to do with him. He had bluffed on destroying the man and his family. As far as he knew, the man's family hadn't done anything to warrant such destruction. Sebastian was volatile, not a monster. With the chief's death, he thought for sure that with him tied up the last loose end of the case.

The walk home had been slow; he had dragged his feet and stared at the ground, kicking small stone as they crossed his shiny black dress boots. He was going to miss this town. He had truly enjoyed himself here. If only a few stores and Junes, of which every day there was great, he had regretted not having the free time to explore more of the city. He was certain he would have found better things to do. A movie, a mall, the beach where he could have worn those swim trunks he still had not had the opportunity to fully enjoy, or even a coffee shop. There was so much to see in this lovely little town and no time left to do it.

Over half a year and so much regret. So much not done. So much not said. If there was a next time, perhaps he could return here under different circumstances. He hadn't taken a vacation in so long.

As he approached his house, the girl waiting against his ghost car waved him over. Beside her was a taller man with glasses and black hair that was pulled over to one side. He was tall and clean shaven and held his shoulders back. Sebastian noticed his haircut. Former military. Sebastian smiled back at the man as he approached.

The man shook Sebastian's hand as he approached, limping slightly

"So, this is the UN detective I traded places with"

Sebastian bowed slightly to the man

"It is a pleasure to meet you in person, Sir. You have a lovely home. I hope I have left it in as clean a state as you left it to me in. only unlike you, I washed my sheets"

The man smiled sheepishly

"Yea, sorry about that"

"Did you feed my bird?"

"I did. Fresh water and food. She should be waiting when you get home. She is a real sweetheart when you get past her exterior"

Chie was a little intrigued now

"Sebastian, you have a pet? You don't seem to me like a bird guy. More like a dog or lizard guy"

"It's not a budgie or lovebird, Officer Satonaka. She's a handful"

Sebastian turned his attention back to the man

"Thank you very much for allowing me to use your home, Officer. It was good of you to allow me access"

The man bowed and Sebastian went inside to retrieve his bag and violin case, taking them to the car piece by piece. Chie had offered to help, but he had dismissed her, requesting that he did it on his own, Wanting his last act in this town to be one he did by himself.

After saying his goodbyes and giving the man his key back, Sebastian climbed into the passenger seat of the vehicle and locked in his seatbelt. Chie locked hers and turned on the car, backed out of the driveway, and after a small wave, headed down the street Sebastian had walked down

The ride was quiet for the first ten minutes before Chie finally decided to speak

"So, Seb, have you spoken to Naoto-kun at all?"

Sebastian was hesitant

"…No. she hasn't spoken to me since I put a bullet in the boy. She's angry with me"

"I'm going to try and just, you know, avoid the whole' what the hell' question and just say that she has a right to be angry"

"What do you mean a right?"

"She looks up to you, Sebastian. The girl loves you. **This **is how you reward that kind of trust? She respects your work; she respects you as an individual. You broke everything she has ever stood for. She is by the books, Seb. You broke the rules"

"What would you have me do, Chie? Bring him back here and stand him before a jury or his peers? Interrogate him? Tell me, what could I say to a jury that would stick? What could I do to prevent him from saying anything about the shadow world? Come on! You have been here before, haven't you? What if Adachi had not confessed?"

"That's unfair…"

"Would you just let him on his merry way? Have him weasel out of it in court? What is in the way to make him stop and change his ways? Nothing. Nothing was in his way. If he hadn't suddenly grown a conscience, what would you have done?"

Chie didn't answer

"You would have exhausted every strategic option to do the right thing and come out a hero and in the end you would have come out just as much a monster as I did. The only difference between Adachi and Simon was that one had no conscience and no desire to change. One had vastly greater strength and would only get stronger. We. Got. Lucky.

What if next time we didn't get lucky? What if next time Miss Amagi died?"

"Don't go there, Seb"

"And what if the next time Yosuke died? And the next time you died? What if the time after that, there was no next time? What if we all lost that time and he killed us all? Who will stop him then? I did what no one else would or could. So spare me your ridiculous sense of morality as though you have some sort of moral high ground. It's silly, Chie"

Naoto banged on the door with the back of her knuckles

"Open up, Sebastian! I demand to know what you did to him!"

There was movement on the inside and she waited, her fists clenching and unclenching. She started before the door even opened

"I don't know what you did to him to make him kill-"

The face that stared back at her was not Sebastian's

"You?"

"H-hey, Detective Shirogane"

"M-my apologies. When did you get home?"

"I got off the train about two hours ago. Officer Satonaka picked me up"

"I see. And the Detective before you?"

"Detective Chastity? He left with Officer Satonaka back to the train station."

Naoto felt her stomach drop

"Is he going home?"

"As far as I'm aware, yes"

Naoto bowed quickly and hurried back to her bike, frantically trying to get her helmet on

"You aren't going to make it, Detective!"

Naoto tried to keep her speed high while still low enough to avoid suspicion from any local law enforcement. Officer or not, she would still be given a ticket for speeding and she needed to keep herself away from the public to avoid collisions. But she could not miss that train.

As much as she was upset and angry at Sebastian, their relationship wasn't one that something like this would pull apart. A mutual understanding would need to be met before reconciliation could begin. She was hurt from what she had seen. As odd and different as Sebastian was, she hadn't expected him to shoot that boy on his knees like a public execution. She had needed to reconstruct his entire image in order to help understand him a little more.

She was angry. She was justly angry and disappointed and hurt. Everything she felt was justified. Yet, she would have thrown all that away for the opportunity to go with him. For the opportunity to stay with him and keep him as her partner. Keep him as her lover. She would get over the image; she would learn to deal with it. Why hadn't he told her he was leaving?

'Perhaps he tried to tell us and you refused to speak with him'

"Did Volf say anything to you?"

'He has been just as silent'

"That's not right. It's not fair!"

'Just get to him, sweetheart. Be careful. We are no good to him dead. We still need to scold him'

Naoto swallowed the lump in her throat and increased her speed. She lost Souji before; she wasn't going to lose Sebastian now.

Chie turned off the engine and walked around to the other side of the vehicle, opening the door for Sebastian. He climbed out slowly, grabbing onto the top of the doorframe to pull himself up. It hurt his chest to pull himself out but he knew with the dips in the car seats that he wouldn't be able to do it without the pull. He was too stubborn to ask for help.

Chie opened the trunk and pulled Sebastian's suitcase out and extended the handle, passing it off to him so she could take his violin. They said nothing as they walked up the steps into the train station. It was quiet on that platform. It appeared he was the only one leaving on this one. Shame. The ride would feel so empty. At the same time, he would have plenty of time to wallow in his own self-pity and deal with the emotional unrest of leaving the town he had rather come to enjoy and the people he would miss the company of.

"Yo, Seb"

Sebastian turned in the direction of the voice to Kanji's grinning face. He had several bandages across his nose which was purple and swollen to at least two and a half times its size. He looked in rough shape.

"Kanji…"

From behind him stepped the rest of the group as they walked into the train station. Sebastian smiled at them all as the approached. Teddies arm was in a sling and he noticed the black and purple up along Yukiko's neckline. He smiled a little brighter at the girl

"How does it look, Miss Amagi?"

Yukiko pulled down on the collar of her red sweater to show him the dark purple and black marks that stemmed from the center of her chest above her breasts, the darkest part of the bruising nestled deep in the cleavage of her breasts. He sneered at it

"I'm just glad you are alive, Miss Amagi"

"Death is much scarier than I thought it would be, Sebastian"

He nodded slowly to her response.

"So, you all came to see me off…"

Teddie nodded with a small smile. Kanji cleared his throat

"We may not all agree with what you did, Seb-"

Yosuke interjected

"-Not in the damn least"

"-**but**…we all know what you did it. We may not approve, but we understand. It may not have been the best idea, but it's not us that did it. I'm sure that you are a big enough man to handle the consequences"

"I am, Kanji"

Chie glanced about

"Hu…I guess Naoto-kun won't be coming…"

Sebastian nodded slowly, waiting for the train, which had arrived, to slow down and stop before he started to speak again

"I assumed as much. I prepared this"

Sebastian set his violin down and reached into his breast pocket, withdrawing a small folded piece of white paper. He opened it to look at the small scribbling before folding it back up and handing it off to Chie.

"Please make sure she gets it"

Chie felt her curiosity creep up inside of her when she took the note from him, her thumbs slipping under the fold to open it but she slid it into her pocket instead

"I'll make sure…"

Sebastian glanced about at the group of people, taking in their faces. They had all come to see him off. It hurt a little bit…

"Perhaps…if there is a next time I end up here…I would very much like to see you all again. Perhaps next time it won't be business and we could all get together for something. A movie perhaps. Dinner. I'll buy. It…feels good knowing there are others like me outside of my work."

He felt his voice tremble a bit at his last words and he swallowed, glancing down at the ground

"It…feels nice to at least pretend to be normal for a little while. It feels nice knowing I have…friends?"

A few of them nodded and a few of them smiled. Sebastian swallowed the lump in his throat and picked up his violin in his casted arm, walking backwards towards the train so he could look at them, engrain them in his memory like a photograph he could always look back to. He didn't know why he was getting a little emotional over this. Perhaps he really was going to miss them all.

"Thank you, all of you, for the wonderful time you have shown me. My only regret is that I did not spend as much time with you all as I now wish I had"

He glanced at the floor again before he started to speak, taking his time

"I am begging you, all of you, learn to be with your personas. They love you. They are part of you. Never ignore them or their feelings or thoughts. Teach them, guide them and let them guide you. There is so much potential in every one of you because of them. Learn to be the person you are meant to be rather than the person you have allowed yourselves to become. Never **ever** turn your backs on them. At the end of the day, they are the ones there to keep you safe and guide your future. So let them. "

He smiled at them all

"Be happy, never be content. And if it is who you were meant to be, be complicated"

Sebastian stepped up onto the train, pulling his suitcase with him, crossing the threshold. He turned back to face them and smiled.

"I won't forget, most of all, the days we all spent together. Never more; no matter how dark it gets, I know I'm not alone…"

He smiled at them as the door closed and the train jerked, beginning to pull away from the train station. He moved with the train to watch them wave as long as he could, smiling at them as the lump in his throat grew larger.

When they were finally out of sight, he folded up the handle of his luggage and set it against the wall as he sat in his seat. He placed his violin case on the empty seat beside him and took a long glance around to ensure no one was there. Then, quietly, he leaned against the glass and started to cry.

Teddie dried his eyes on his sleeve.

"Man this is weird. I can feel my persona crying. I must really miss that wolf."

Yukiko held onto Chie's arm, hugging her and holding herself up at the same time

"I'm sure he'll be back, Teddie."

Kanji smiled, watching the last remnants of the train pull away before turning to head back to the road.

"We've been wrong about that kinda' thing before, but who knows with that guy"

The honking heading up the road drew their attention as Naoto rode up on her bike. She drove up onto the curb and stopped before taking her helmet off. The looks on her friends faces made her stomach sink again and she felt her shoulders slump and she stared through the handlebars of her bike. She had missed him

Pain wasn't the word she needed to describe the feeling. It was…hollow. It was empty. She was angry and disappointed and so very ashamed at herself for not bothering to ask when he was leaving so this thing wouldn't have happened. She had done everything wrong in order for this to happen. It was a bad ending.

Chie approached her and put her hand into her pocket, withdrawing the note

"He said you would want this if you decided to show up. Said I need to give it to you."

Naoto glanced at the paper seeming to stare through it as she took it. Her hands shook slightly as she held it, trying hard to keep herself composed and her appearance up. She took a moment to observe the way he had folded it so properly and directly in half. There were no creases on either side of the paper opposite where he had written. He had been very careful about his words and calm when he had written them

Yosuke was growing impatient

"Aren't you gonna' open it, Naoto-chan?"

Naoto took a deep breath and let it out slowly as she folded open the sheet. Three words. Three little words written carefully in black ink in the middle of the page that caused her to smile. At the same time, she pulled her hat down over her eyes, hiding herself from her friends as she felt hot tears begin to run down her cheeks.

He was right. How had it come to this? How had things been so simple a few months ago and so difficult now? All because he hadn't look at her with anything less than indifference. All because he had been kind and uncaring of whom she was pretending to be. He had looked right through her and peeled her shell away, a master with the knife he had cut through it with. And now…this. She wanted to be angry with him. She wanted to scream and walk up one side and down the other with him. But now…

"What does it say, Naoto-kun?"

Yukiko came around to look at the paper. Naoto handed it to her, drying her eyes on the back of her sleeve.

"I…don't understand, Naoto-kun"

Naoto swallowed hard and spoke slowly to not let her voice crack to its more effeminate tone or to sound like that little girl she had been when facing herself during the previous investigation.

"It means he'll be back for me…"

Yukiko passed the letter to Chie who read it quietly first before smiling and put one of her hands on her hips as she read it out loud, quietly, trying to get the tone of the writing across

"_I'm not Souji"_

Sebastian opened his eyes when the stewardess gently shook his shoulder, careful not to touch anything that seemed like it had been damaged previously. He blinked a few times before leaning forward and running his free hand across his face and rubbing his eyes

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry, sir, but we have arrived at our destination"

Sebastian glanced about for a moment at the rest of the people onboard the plane

"Why is no one moving then?"

The woman cleared her throat before standing up

"We are being ordered to escort you off the plane before anyone else is to leave"

Sebastian was quiet for a moment before he sighed and grabbing his half empty can of diet coke from his drink tray and finished the can. He stood up from his seat and grabbed his violin from above before making his way to the exit of the plane. First class. Small walk.

As Sebastian stepped from the plane and walked down the ramp, he was greeted at the end of the stairs by a familiar smiling face.

"Director"

The man smiled at Sebastian and gave him a hug as he stepped from the plane

"Good to have you home, Detective Chastity. How was Japan?"

Sebastian hugged back and chuckled slightly, responding jokingly as he set his violin down.

"Dismal. I can only assume why you are here"

"And what do your assumptions tell you?"

"That I should get on my knees"

'There are twelve of them. Four on the move'

"I think that would be best, Detective. You'll forgive me for the lack of formalities"

Sebastian nodded and turned around to face the plane, getting on his knees. He put his free hand behind his back. Another voice spoke up but Sebastian looked forward, not turning or even moving as it spoke to him. He heard boots thump along the blacktop and saw small red dots cross along the pavement in front of him as laser sights shifted about. A hand grabbed his wrist and secured one half of a set of handcuffs to it.

"Detective Sebastian Chastity, you are under arrest for the murder of one Matthew Demitri. You have the right to remain silent-"

Sebastian looked up with a small smirk to his director as the man crossed in front of him and picked up his violin.

"Make sure nothing happens to that violin, Sir"

"I'll be sure to have it taken care of until this is sorted out"

Sebastian was forced up onto his feet and a hand gripped onto his shoulder as he was escorted through the terminal with a small smirk on his face.

"She wore blue velvet. Bluer than velvet were her eyes…"

The end


	37. Epilogue

Naoto felt her head fall off of her fist and smack down against the glass of the window, the reverberations snapping her out of her tired mood and having her straighten in her seat. She glanced about to the rest of the office to see if anyone had seen it happen. The two women behind the desk had been busy on the phone and had not bothered to look up apart from the initial noise. She was thankful for that.

It had been four months since any commotion had come from Sebastian. She had waited patiently in those four months for any sign of life from the boy once he had left. She would have been lying to herself if she were to say that there wasn't even a small amount of doubt that he would disappear, but she had faith in him and Volf to stand by their word.

When the message had finally arrived, Naoto had been hard at work, solving the theft case from Junes and several other cases. She was taking on five or six at a time. She was amazed she could get so much work done with Yamato in her head. She was a machine.

The message had arrived in the form of a hand written letter from director Lafleur, addressed to her. A flight had been arranged and travel plans made were she to accept them to come for an interview at Detective Chastity's request. That was a week ago.

"Detective Shirogane?"

Naoto stood from her seat when the dark skinned woman approached. She had pearly white teeth and a small pearl necklace around her neck which was beautiful juxtaposed to her black skin. She had long black hair that ran down to the small of her back and a gold bracelet on her right wrist. She wore a black dress and white heels. She looked lovely.

"Alicia Roads. Pleasure to finally meet you"

Naoto smiled slightly, shaking the woman's hand gently. Naoto was a little disappointed. The woman had no strength to shake with.

"The feeling is mutual, miss Roads"

"The director is ready to see you now"

Naoto followed behind the women as she led her to the elevator, pressing the button to call it and stepping inside when it arrived. The woman pulled a key from the pocket of her dress and inserted it into a small slot at the bottom of the numbers, turning it

"Here at Reign-beaux, Director Lafleur likes to be a little flashy"

Naoto smiled and took a small breath, blowing out loudly and shaking out her hands. She was nervous. For a moment, she completely forgot where she was and tried to remember if she had left her desk immediately after getting the letter or stayed to finish her shift. She hoped, if she had just up and left, that she had given Dojima enough to work with in her absence.

"Relax, Naoto. If you can tame Sebastian, the director won't be a problem"

Naoto stared down at the ground, biting her lower lip. Sebastian's voice whispered out inside her head to stop biting her pretty lips so she let it go, her cheeks a little hot

"Has he mentioned me?"

"He can't stop talking about you. Getting a little annoying really"

When they reached the top floor, the doors opened to the director's office. The marble floors did not help dampen their approach as Alicia's heels clacked against them. Naoto was a little more careful on approach.

The room was adorned with multiple screens in different sections of the room for multiple calls with different country representatives. Each screen had a different country name above them. Webcams were set up around the room as well. The director's desk was set up in the middle of these screens so he could simply turn in his chair to speak to a representative when they called. The room was adorned with the usual furnishings of bookshelves and a large globe for aesthetic reasons. It was strange she could tell that this room was all a ruse of professionalism just by looking at his fingernails.

The man looked up from his paperwork as they approached and smiled at the two. He set several pieces of paperwork aside and into a small booklet before closing it and setting aside on his desk. The rest he pulled off the desk and into a recycling bin at his feet. Alicia offered Naoto one of the chairs and she took it

"Can I get you anything to drink, Detective? Water? Tea?"

Another voice spoke out from the second elevator as it opened

"She'll have tea"

Naoto turned to the voice, internally smiling at the face. He had gotten his hair cut and was back to the middle ground length he had when she had first met him. His face was clean shaven and smooth. The smell of vanilla wafted in with him which caused her tongue to lick her lips. She wanted to jump on him and kiss and hold him and bite him but instead she turned back around, taking deep quiet breaths to try and calm her heart. She took a deep breath before she spoke.

"Detective Chastity…"

He smiled slightly and tightened the strap on his eye patch before he sat down, pulling down on his jacket. He fixed his tie and crossed his legs.

He older man across from them waited for Naoto to have her tea before he began to speak, waiting for Alicia to go down the elevator before starting

"Miss Naoto Shirogane, I'm glad you could meet with us. I understand this is a long journey"

Naoto nodded and stared at her cup, unsure if she should take a sip

"I would like to apologize for how long it took for us to contact you. Detective Chastity was involved in the legal matters of killing a civilian in another country. As you can understand, it takes time to sort these things out when it comes down to our job. Sebastian was released earlier this week so we thought we should have this meeting before anyone changes their mind. Sebastian, would you care to…?"

Sebastian nodded and reached across the table for the folder, handing it to Naoto

"This, Naoto, is your request for employment worksheet. Once the paperwork is filled out and you are cleared, you will be given a new passport to allow free reign of every country that is represented in the United Nations. Things will change. You will no longer live as a permanent resident of Inaba but as a resident of the world, unencumbered by a single country. You will be free to live in any country of representation and be allowed to come and go as you wish.

You will undergo training to become an agent of this organization which will take time. But once all is done and paperwork is finished, you will be cleared and welcomed as an investigator of Reign-Beaux"

Naoto flipped through several pages of the paperwork, glancing over some of the questions she would need to answer. She cleared her throat, speaking to Sebastian, pleased that the director did not know Japanese

"There was a moment when I thought I wouldn't see you again"

Sebastian smiled

"I would like to kiss you right now, but I don't want to cause a scene. I missed you"

Naoto smiled slightly and reached for the pen on the director's desk. The man smiled

"Welcome to Reign-Beaux, Detective Shirogane. We expect great things from the both of you"

-Elsewhere

A man in a wrinkled and ugly suit made his way down a dimly lit hallway, a manila folder tucked under his arm. He pushed his glasses up along the bridge of his nose. He extended his arm to pull back the sleeve of his jacket, looking down into the gold watch on his wrist. He was right on time. He was exhausted.

As he approached the door at the end of the hall, he was stopped. The man at the end took his finger off the trigger of his weapon and pressed it to the man's chest, stopping him

"I'm sorry, sir, bu-"

"If you don't get your hand off me I'll cut the damn thing off"

Slowly, the man removed his hand

"She is busy right now"

"I know she is. She's waiting for me. Now open the fucking door…"

The guard, unsure, spoke into the radio along the shoulder of his vest.

"Sir, you have a visitor"

The magnetic lock buzzed loudly in the empty hallway as the door opened. The man pushed his glasses back up on his nose again before he entered the room. When the door closed behind him, he was entirely engulfed in darkness.

The only light source in the room came from the computer table at the end corner. Light reflected off a large fish tank on the other side. He could see the chair on the other side of the desk.

The woman that sat behind the screen wore glasses so that the glare did not strain her eyes. She did not look up from the screen until the man had sat down, the folder on his lap. She ran her gloved hand along her cheek and pushed her red hair behind her ear

"Director Kiri-"

"Be quiet…"

She leaned back from her screen and stared the man up and down

"You have been gone for several months, now. What took so long?"

The man bowed his head

"I apologize, ma'am, the case took longer than expected. But I have the results for you"

He placed the folder into her outstretched hand. She took a moment to thumb through the pages, smiling slightly.

"My my…and the two did this by themselves?"

"No, ma'am. They had help from the previous investigation team but most of the damage done was from those two and their personas"

The woman giggled slightly and turned one of the pages of the report. The picture on the left side showed a man with short black hair in the mid transition of length. He rested against the glass of a train car, somewhere between half asleep and half awake. The other picture showed a woman in a blue dress, her cheeks slightly red from embarrassment as she danced in the arms of the man from the first picture

"Very well. You believe these two to be suitable?"

"I do, ma'am"

She nodded a few times and closed the folder

"Ok then. Have them watched. When we need them, get them in the program. Keep an eye on the boy. S.E.E.S could use a few more monsters…"

_**Time until incident: 3 years: 4 months: 22 days: 18 hours: 2 minutes**_

((So…it's been a wonderful time with all of you. First copy is done, and now we edit. Now, as you can see, I have a sequel in mind and I am working on it. I don't know when or even **if** I want to start it or do it, but I want to know from you, my readers, if I even should. Keep in mind, if you do want me to do it, know that I won't be starting it for a bit. As in a few months when I get everything patted down and set up and have the storyline set up. Thank you so much for reading, and for my more up to date readers, I have created a prologue for the story as well. Just a little tidbit. Not that it is of any use for you this late in the game))

-Dryce


End file.
